Department for Transport

East Midlands Rail Franchise

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Rail Review announced on 11 October 2018 on the timing of the East Midlands franchise process; and if he will make a statement.

Joseph Johnson: When the Rail Review was announced on 20 September 2018 the Government made clear in its statement that, with the exception of the Cross Country franchise, all other ongoing franchise competitions (including the East Midlands franchise) and other live rail projects are continuing as planned.

Neston Station

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to visit Neston train station.

Joseph Johnson: The Secretary of State regularly visits train stations across the country, of which there are over 2,500 in Great Britain. There are no plans to visit Neston station at this current time.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Victoria Prentis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the mitigation measures agreed by HS2 Ltd to reduce the negative effect on biodiversity are (a) secured for the duration of the project and (b) monitored.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: HS2 Information Paper E2 outlines how ecological impacts have been assessed and how they will be mitigated or compensated for during the construction of Phase One of HS2. It refers to the commitment to seek no net loss to biodiversity. Mitigation measures include the creation of habitat to maintain the populations of protected species. New areas of woodland, grassland, heathland and ponds will be created.A route-wide monitoring strategy will be put in place. HS2 Ltd is responsible for maintaining and monitoring the new or managed habitat for a sufficient period to ensure that the nature conservation objectives are achieved. Indicative periods for the management and monitoring of habitats are set out in HS2 Information Paper E26. These include plans to monitor replacement woodland for up to 50 years. A similar approach is being adopted for future phases of the scheme.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Victoria Prentis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that High Speed Two does not cause the death of barn owls.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: HS2 Ltd has produced a barn owl mitigation plan to manage and reduce the anticipated significant effects to barn owls caused by construction and operation of the Phase One scheme. The plan has been developed by a team of professional ecologists, including a barn owl expert, and has been informed by additional research undertaken by the British Trust for Ornithology. The plan assumes that 80 pairs are affected by the Phase One scheme and consists of measures to: avoid disturbance to the species during construction; reduce the collision risk of the railway to the birds; provide new artificial nesting sites at a safe distance from the railway; and monitor the new nesting sites to ensure uptake by barn owls. It is expected that the barn owl mitigation plan will be expanded and refined for future phases of HS2.

Cycling

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to extend cycling’s popularity to groups that are currently under-represented.

Jesse Norman: The Government’s plans to promote cycling and walking are set out in the statutory Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, published in April 2017. The Strategy’s ambition is to make cycling and walking the natural choice for shorter journeys, or as part of a longer journey. The Strategy includes a commitment to monitor the uptake of cycling by age, gender, ethnicity and mobility. The Department recognises that the take-up of cycling is lower among some groups than others, as shown by the 2017 walking and cycling statistics for England, published in a fact sheet on 30 August 2018. For some under-represented groups, concerns about safety are a major barrier to taking up cycling. The Department announced on 18 October that it will be reviewing those elements of the Highway Code that relate to cycling and walking. It will also publish later this year its full response to the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy safety review, which will include further measures to make cycling safer and hence more attractive to those who are not regular cyclists. The Department has also provided funding for initiatives including Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival campaign which has helped to promote cycling among under-represented groups, and to make it a safe, easy and affordable travel option for all.

Bus Services: Bury

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many supported bus services there have been in Bury in each year since 2010.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Up until 31 December 2013 Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) was paid directly to bus operators and was not split between commercially run or subsidised bus services. We are therefore unable to provide figures for this period. From 1 January 2014 local authorities have received funding equivalent to the level of BSOG which would otherwise have been paid to operators for running subsidised services in 2014. Details of the amounts paid to local authorities each year can be found on the “Payments to Local Authorities” tab of the relevant spreadsheets published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bus-services-grants-and-funding#bsog-spend’

Bus Services: Bury

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of trends in the (a) number and (b) frequency of bus services serving Bury since 2010.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department does not hold any data on the number and frequency of bus services in Bury. The lowest level geography available is upper tier local authority.

Northern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of whether Arriva Rail North has met the obligations and provisions of its franchise.

Joseph Johnson: Currently Arriva Rail North has received one enforcement notice relating to environmental training. The Rail North Partnership constantly monitors Arriva Rail North’s compliance with the obligations within the Franchise Agreement.

Northern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what adjustments his Department has made to the provisions of the Arriva Rail North franchise in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Joseph Johnson: Changes to franchise agreements can be found on the public version of the Franchise Agreement which can be found on the Department’s website.

Northern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the provisions of the Northern Rail franchise to protect the operator against falling passenger numbers.

Joseph Johnson: There are no provisions in the Northern Franchise Agreement to protect the operator against falling passenger numbers.

Northern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what adjustments he has made to the provisions of the Northern Rail franchise that provide protection to the operator against falling passenger numbers.

Joseph Johnson: As there are no provisions in the Franchise Agreement to protect the operator against falling passenger number, no adjustments have been made.

Northern: Subsidies

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value was of the subsidy his Department provided to Arriva Rail North in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the contribution in premiums to the public purse from First Transpennine in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Joseph Johnson: Statistics published annually by the Office of Rail and Road provide the total premium or subsidy for train operating companies. Figures are available on a financial year basis (April to March) for Arriva Northern and First TransPennine Express from 2016-17.  2016-172017-18Arriva Northern (£ millions)279.0281.8First TransPennine Express (£ millions)-2.06.1 A positive value represents an overall subsidy paid to the train operator, whereas a negative value represents an overall premium paid to government.

Railways: Franchises

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of the franchise competitions for (a) Southeastern, (b) East Midlands Trains and (c) West Cost trains.

Joseph Johnson: The spend to date from the inception of each franchising project, plus forecast future spend, is shown in the table below. These figures are primarily adviser costs (financial, technical and legal) plus contingent labour. Franchises are complex transactions and the expenditure helps deliver a robust commercial position, passenger benefits and taxpayer value over the franchise life. The recently announced Rail Review being led by Keith Williams will consider all parts of the rail industry, from the current franchising system and industry structures, to accountability and value for money for passengers and taxpayers. Competition Spend to dateForecast to March 19Estimated cost to the public pursea) South Eastern 5,558,025.52926,620.006,484,645.52b) East Midlands 3,686,461.892,476,040.006,162,501.89c) West Coast 12,444,887.712,922,110.0015,366,997.71 Total 21,689,375.126,324,770.0028,014,145.12

Railways: Noise

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce noise pollution from (a) normal services and (b) maintenance work on railways in Coventry.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Severn River Crossing: Tolls

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff facing redundancy as a result of the removal of tolls have (a) been offered and (b) undertaken and completed retraining since Highways England took over control of the Severn bridges.

Jesse Norman: The cessation of tolling at the Severn Bridges will remove the need for staff roles that are involved directly in frontline tolling operations or back office support. On 12 October 2018, Highways England notified those affected that they were at potential risk of redundancy, and commenced a formal minimum 45 day consultation period with recognised Trade Unions and individuals to determine those interested in redeployment and outplacement learning. This will include practical training, emotional and coaching support and opportunities for individuals. Highways England will undertake and complete outplacement learning and support following completion of this current consultation process for those individuals who require this.

Railways: Compensation

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that consumers are informed about the rail compensation scheme.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Financial Conduct Authority on the regulation of car insurance premiums.

Jesse Norman: There has been no recent discussion with the Financial Conduct Authority on car insurance premiums.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Fracking: Finance

Lee Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to Written Statement of 17 May 2018 on Energy Policy, HCWS690, what (a) methodology and (b) data were used by his Department for the statement that shale gas companies could make set payments to communities with shale developments for up to £10m.

Claire Perry: The figure quoted is an industry estimate that has been modelled on scenarios in the Institute of Directors’ report entitled ‘Getting shale gas working’. The shale gas industry has made a commitment through its Community Engagement Charter[1], to provide benefits to local communities at locations where hydraulic fracturing takes place. [1] http://www.ukoog.org.uk/community/charter

Electricity Generation

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is the Government's policy to move away from using coal to generate electricity in the UK; and what assessment his Department has made of the effect of higher gas prices on the level of electricity generation from (a) coal and (b) gas.

Claire Perry: The Government is committed to ending the use of unabated coal for electricity generation by 2025. Government measures and support for low carbon technologies mean that coal has gone from generating 39% of the UK’s electricity in 2012 to 7% in 2017[i]. Coal’s share of electricity generation was 1.6% for 2018 Q2. Gas’ share of electricity generation was 42% for the same period[ii]. The Department considers and analyses a range of future price scenarios and the effect on anticipated generation from coal and gas; a number of these scenarios are published as part of the BEIS Energy and Emissions Projections[iii]. Changes in gas prices are one of a number of factors that can affect the amount of coal and gas generation on the system at any particular time. Higher gas prices may incentivise some switching from gas to coal due to impacts on gas-fired power plants relative profitability in the short term. While there may be a small increase in the share of coal generation this winter, we do not expect these recent fluctuations to significantly affect the trajectory to the end of unabated coal by 2025. [i] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes[ii] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends[iii] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-and-emissions-projections

Carbon Budgets: Climate Change

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the Fourth and Fifth Carbon Budgets are not within the scope of his Department’s recent request to the Committee on Climate Change to advise on the implications of the Paris Climate Agreement and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Special Report on 1.5 degrees for the UK's long-term emissions reduction targets.

Claire Perry: We are leading the world in our response to the IPCC report – commissioning our independent experts, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), for advice on our long-term targets a week after publication of the IPCC report. The Climate Change Act 2008 establishes the functions of the CCC which include providing advice on the level of 2050 target, as well as providing advice in connection with carbon budgets. The CCC’s focus for this particular advice will rightly be on our long-term targets, including the costs, benefits and deliverability of more ambitious targets. The UK carbon budgets already set in legislation are among the most stringent in the world, requiring a 57% cut in emissions by 2028 - 2032 from a 1990 baseline. The Government’s focus is on delivering those challenging targets as part of our Clean Growth Strategy. As part of their ongoing analysis on our progress, the CCC already advise on a decarbonisation pathway that takes us on a steeper trajectory than legislated carbon budgets (see the CCC’s Progress Report of June this year). Under the Climate Change Act, the CCC will next advise us on carbon budget levels in 2020 when they set out their views on the sixth carbon budget (2033-2037).

Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency: Appeals

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the process is for an appeal against the findings of a Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency investigation.

Claire Perry: The Cavity Insultation Guarantee Agency (CIGA), an independent commercial organisation, has a standardised customer journey and resolution process which is detailed on their website: https://ciga.co.uk/consumer-concerns. Should a customer believe that CIGA staff have not followed this process they can raise a concern directly with the Chief Executive Officer or alternatively with CIGA’s Consumer Focus Non-Executive Director. If a Guarantee has been issued, but CIGA have not responded in a manner that is satisfactory to the consumer, the guarantee allows for any dispute between the householder and CIGA to be referred to arbitration. The Independent Arbitration service for customers is provided by the independent Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Their role is to provide a formal way to resolve disputes between CIGA or CIGA-registered installers and their customers, when other attempts to resolve a dispute have been unsuccessful.

Fuel Oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas: Private Rented Housing

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many exemptions have been granted to landlords with off-gas grid properties using either (a) heating oil and (b) liquefied petroleum gas under Regulation 25 of the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015.

Claire Perry: Landlords of EPC F or G rated domestic privately rented properties may register an exemption under Regulation 25 if they have made all the relevant energy efficiency improvements available for their property and it remains below E, or if there are no relevant energy efficiency improvements that can be made. The gas-grid status is not a relevant factor in whether a property qualifies for this exemption. To the end of September, 2,194 exemptions have been registered under Regulation 25. A proportion of these may relate to off-gas grid properties, but this information is not required from the landlord when registering an exemption.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will put in place immediately an export tariff regime for rooftop solar panels installed after March 2019; and for what reason such a regime is not already in place.

Claire Perry: We are considering responses to the recent Consultation proposing to close the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) scheme, and the Call for Evidence on small-scale low-carbon generation. The Government will set out its response in due course.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Contracts

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of staff of companies subcontracted by his Department are BAME.

Richard Harrington: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold records on the number of staff employed by companies subcontracted for the provision of services.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Contracts

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of staff of companies subcontracted by Department are BAME.

Richard Harrington: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold records on the number of staff employed by companies subcontracted for the provision of services.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Public Expenditure

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the change was to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills' budget in real and cash terms in each year from 2010-11 to 2016-17.

Richard Harrington: Business Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) budgets decreased by 6.5%, in real terms, between 2010 and 2017 (14.9% decrease in cash terms). The year on year decrease is as follows: Note: “BIS budgets” refers to total Departmental Expenditure Limits, excluding depreciation, taken from Departmental Estimates. The 2016-17 figures are based on the Main Estimate due to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was created in July 2016. Change from previous yearRealCash2011-12-8.1%-9.3%2012-13-1.5%-3.4%2013-144.0%2.1%2014-15-1.9%-3.1%2015-16-3.3%-4.0%2016-174.5%2.3%

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Tibet: Human Rights

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to discuss the human rights situation in Tibet with his Chinese counterpart as part of China's universal periodic review at the UN Human Rights Council on 6 November.

Mark Field: We pay close attention to the human rights situation across China, including in Tibet. We are currently considering our advance questions and statement (including recommendations) for China’s Universal Periodic Review session on 6 November, and will be raising a range of our priority concerns. The UK engages consistently and comprehensively in the Universal Periodic Review process. We have spoken at every session and on every country since the process began, and are committed to its improvement.

South Sudan: Courts

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the appointment by the UN of a prosecutor for the Hybrid Court for South Sudan as an interim step pending the formal establishment of such a court.

Harriett Baldwin: Ensuring justice for the victims of the South Sudan conflict and ensuring that those responsible are held accountable is vital in order to achieve sustainable, long term peace. As part of the revised peace agreement signed on 12 September, parties re-committed to several transitional justice mechanisms, including the establishment of the Hybrid Court with the support of the African Union (AU). Through bilateral engagement, and as part of the Troika, we have consistently called for the AU and the Government of South Sudan to move forward with the establishment of this Court and the other mechanisms. ​

Burma: Peace Negotiations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Myanmar on the outcomes of the third 21st Century Panglong Conference in Myanmar which was held on July 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Field: Our Ambassador to Burma attended the conference's opening ceremony and met Kachin, Chin, Shan and Karen leaders, and then discussed its outcomes with the Minister for the Office of State Counsellor in their meeting of 9 August. While the most contentious topics remain to be tackled, there was agreement at the conference on a further 14 principles, bringing the total agreed to 51. The conference also re-opened contact between the military and ethnic armed organisations, including non-signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. The role of the Burmese military in supporting the peace process in Burma will rightly remain under international scrutiny.

Bangladesh: Elections

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impartiality of the Election Commission of Bangladesh since the inauguration of its new members in February 2017; and what assessment he has made of the ability of that Commission to oversee free, fair and credible elections to the Parliament of Bangladesh.

Mark Field: The UK government is clear that it wants to see a free, fair and pluralistic general election in Bangladesh, and I have consistently encouraged the Government of Bangladesh and opposition parties to engage in an effective dialogue to this end. For this to be achieved, the Election Commission should be allowed to carry out its important work unhindered by political influence. This message was more recently communicated by the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh together with other EU Heads of Mission during a meeting with the Election Commission on 18 October. The EU confirmed that it will be sending an expert mission to observe the election in Bangladesh.I made clear my concerns regarding the prospects for the election to senior members of the Government of Bangladesh, including State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam, and members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, during my visit to Bangladesh 29 June - 1 July. The Foreign Secretary underlined the importance of free, fair and non-violent elections in Bangladesh with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when they met on 24 September at the UN General Assembley in New York.

Bangladesh: Demonstrations

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterpart in the Bangladesh Government on that Government’s response to recent demonstrations led by students and young people on (a) reform of public-sector employment quotas and (b) road safety in that country.

Mark Field: I was deeply concerned by the violence we saw in Dhaka in response to protests on road-safety this summer, and by the action taken against the peaceful public-sector employment quota protests. In a statement on 7 August, the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Alison Blake, together with other EU Heads of Mission, called on the Government of Bangladesh to investigate incidents of unlawful or disproportionate violence against road safety protestors and journalists and hold the perpetrators to account. Subsequently, Joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development Minister Alistair Burt expressed our concern regarding the response to the road safety protests with the Government of Bangladesh, during his visit to Bangladesh 28-31 August.Bangladesh remains a Human Rights Priority Country for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We raised freedom of expression as a key concern in Bangladesh during the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review and we continue to encourage the Government of Bangladesh to work with Bangladeshi Civil Society to address their concerns regarding freedom of expression.

Bangladesh: War Crimes

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of compliance by the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh with the requirements within the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on due process and the right to a fair trial.

Mark Field: ​The UK has consistently been clear that we support the principle of holding to account those people guilty of committing crimes during the 1971 Liberation War in Bangladesh. However, any such trials must be conducted in a way that meets international legal standards. The British Government is aware of concerns expressed by some human rights NGOs and legal professionals about International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) proceedings. We have raised this with the Government of Bangladesh on a number of occasions and hope the ICT will address such concerns promptly and thoroughly.

Burma: Human Rights

Paul Scully: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the conclusions of the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, published in March 2018.

Mark Field: The Government set out its response to the report in its reply to PQ HL6282. Since the report was published the UK has played a leading role in securing the resolution adopted at the 39th session of the UN Human Rights Council in September that establishes a mechanism to collect and preserve evidence of atrocities in Burma, as called for by the Special Rapporteur. The current Foreign Secretary has stated that it is essential that the perpetrators of any atrocities are brought to justice through impartial and credible investigations.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Universal Credit

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of staff employed by is Department who are in receipt of universal credit; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made no assessment of the number or proportion of staff employed by the FCO who may be in receipt of universal credit. This information is not needed by the FCO for employment purposes.​

Religious Freedom

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,  if he will hold discussions with the EU Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief on UK cooperation with the EU on freedom of religion and belief after the UK leaves the EU.

Mark Field: ​In his capacity as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon met Jan Figel, the European Commission Special Envoy for FoRB, in July 2018.The UK will seek to work closely with the EU on human rights issues including Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) after we leave. The EU Special Envoy is responsible for the implementation of the EU guidelines on FoRB to which the UK was a key contributor.

Jamal Khashoggi

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the capability of the Saudi Government to undertake a credible investigation into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

Alistair Burt: The UK has made clear that Saudi Arabia must cooperate with Turkey and conduct a full and credible investigation. We ask for both the Turkish and Saudi investigations to be carried out thoroughly until responsibilities are clearly established and that there is proper accountability and due process for any crimes committed.We take note of the Saudi statement of preliminary findings but we do not accept that the description of Mr Khashoggi's having died in a fight is a credible explanation. There remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened on 2 October and thereafter. The Prime Minister made this point when she spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia on 24 October.

Jamal Khashoggi

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his counterpart in Saudi Arabia on the spread of inaccurate information on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by news verification services in Saudi Arabia.

Alistair Burt: ​The Prime Minister spoke to King Salman of Saudi Arabia on 24 October and made clear that the current explanation lacks credibility. The Foreign Secretary also conveyed this message when he spoke to the Saudi Foreign Minister on Saturday 20 October. There remains an urgent need to establish exactly what happened on 2 October and thereafter.

Jamal Khashoggi

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the US administration on the (a) murder of Jamal Khashoggi and (b) coordination of international responses to Saudi Arabia in relation to that murder.

Alistair Burt: ​The Foreign Secretary remains in close contact with international partners, including his counterparts in the US, France and Germany to discuss the case of Jamal Khashoggi. The Foreign Secretary has issued two joint statements alongside his G7 counterparts, including the US, on 17 and 23 October. He has also issued two joint statements with his French and German counterparts, on 14 and 21 October. The most recent G7 statement condemned the killing in the strongest possible terms and reiterated the need for a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation by Saudi Arabia, in full collaboration with the Turkish authorities.

Saudi Arabia: Conferences

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether officials from (a) his Department and (b) the British Embassy in Saudi Arabia attended the Future Investment Initiative Conference in October 2018.

Alistair Burt: ​As the Prime Minister said on Wednesday 24 October, no Ministers or government officials attended the investment conference.

Saudi Arabia: Conferences

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason his Department did not issue guidance to UK-based companies to withdraw their representatives from the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Saudi Arabia in October 2018.

Alistair Burt: As the Prime Minister said on Wednesday 24 October, no Ministers or government officials attended the Future Investment Initiative Conference.The British Government expected companies to make their own decision regarding attendance at the conference.

Members: Correspondence

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland on Nicaragua dated 28 September 2018.

Sir Alan Duncan: A response was sent on 22 October, four working days before the 20 day target as published in the Cabinet Office annual correspondence report.

Saudi Arabia: Textbooks

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the progress made by Saudi Arabian education authorities in removing from school textbooks (a) incitements to commit jihad, (b) passages describing Christians and Jews in a derogatory manner and (c) passages encouraging extremist ideologies likely to incite hatred of religious minorities within Saudi Arabia.

Alistair Burt: ​The British Government strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief, which is restricted in Saudi Arabia. Our views are well known.A major component of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 is educational reform. As the Saudi Minister of Education recently commented, this will take a number of years. During the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the UK in 2018, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will enable a partnership in developing educational curricula.We closely monitor freedom of religion or belief issues in Saudi Arabia.

Sahel: Terrorism

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the joint G5 regional stabilisation force that was targeted by a suicide bomber in June 2018 at its headquarters in Sevare.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK strongly supports the G5 Sahel Joint Force and condemns the attack against the Force's Headquarters in Sevare in June 2018. The UK has contributed 15.5% of the €100m of EU support to date for the Force, as well as £2m in bilateral funds. We assess that the G5 Sahel Joint Force is having a positive impact against the Islamist terrorist threat, evidenced by a number of effective joint operations since November 2017. The challenge is nevertheless significant and it is urgent that the Force becomes fully operational and the international community makes good on pledges of financial support for the G5 Sahel Joint Force.

Sahel: Terrorism

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the accuracy of  reports that Algerian and Sudanese Islamist jihadists are present in central and northern Mali where the joint G5 regional stabilisation force operates.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK strongly supports the G5 Sahel Joint Force and condemns the attack against the Force's Headquarters in Sevare in June 2018. The UK has contributed 15.5% of the €100m of EU support to date for the Force, as well as £2m in bilateral funds. Since October 2012, there have been reports of significant numbers of foreign terrorists, including Algerian and Sudanese fighters, operating in Gao and Timbuktu. We assess that the G5 Sahel Joint Force is having a positive impact against the Islamist terrorist threat, evidenced by a number of effective joint operations since November 2017. The challenge is nevertheless significant and it is urgent that the Force becomes fully operational and the international community makes good on pledges of financial support for the G5 Sahel Joint Force.

USA: INF Treaty

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the US administration on the announcement of the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Sir Alan Duncan: We have a close dialogue with the US at all levels on foreign and security policy questions, including the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. We share US concern at certain new Russian missiles. We believe the INF Treaty has played a valuable role in supporting Euro-Atlantic security and want to see it continue to stand but that requires all parties to abide by it. While the Treaty remains in force, we will continue our efforts to bring Russia back into full and verified compliance. We will work closely with US and other Allies on next steps.

Cabinet Office

Development Aid: Climate Change

Kate Osamor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons sustainable development goal (SDG) 13 has not been included in the list of SDGs that the Prosperity Fund focuses on.

Mr David Lidington: The primary purpose of the Prosperity Fund is to support inclusive economic development. Programmes contribute to a number of the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 13, for example through the development of low carbon development technologies and improving energy efficiency. This is set out in more detail in the Prosperity Fund’s forthcoming Annual Report for 2017/18.

Infected Blood Inquiry

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 18 October 2018, Infected Blood Inquiry, HCWS1021, when his Department became aware that the email containing the retention notice was not delivered to Government Departments; and what assesment he has made of the contents of any files that may have been destroyed.

Mr David Lidington: The Cabinet Office became aware of this issue at the beginning of October, and tookimmediate steps to ascertain what had happened and why, and to seek reassurance fromdepartments that they had received the notification when it was resent on 11 June, andthat they had not destroyed any records relevant to the Inquiry during the period 3 Aprilto 11 June. All relevant departments and relevant areas within departments worked urgently toconfirm that they have not destroyed any records relevant to the Inquiry during theperiod between 3rd April and 11th June, and have provided confirmation. The Department of Health and Social Care put in place a moratorium on the destruction of historical records as soon as the Inquiry was announced in July 2017. Because of their size and the complexity of some of the records they hold, HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Legal Aid Agency are continuing to work to provide this assurance and have committed to doing so as urgently as possible. All other relevant departments and agencies have already been able to provide assurances that no information relevant to the inquiry was destroyed during that period.

Hodgkin Lymphoma

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people with Hodgkin lymphoma in each of the last five years.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 80.1 KB)

Official Residences

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will provide a list of ministerial residences and their authorised occupants.

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Ministers vacated their official residence within (a) one week, (b) two weeks and (c) three weeks of leaving that position in each of the last ten years.

Mr David Lidington: The official residences available to government ministers are:Flats above 10 and 11 Downing Street, which are available for the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer respectively;1 Carlton Gardens, leased from the Crown Estate, which has been used as the official residence for the Foreign Secretary;Three flats in Admiralty House, to be allocated at the Prime Minister’s discretion; andHillsborough Castle and Stormont, which are available for ministers in the Northern Ireland Office while on duty in Northern Ireland. The Chequers, Dorneywood and Chevening estates are available to ministers for both official and private use. None of these properties are owned by the Government, and are run by trustees. Chequers is used by the Prime Minister. The use of Chevening currently divided between the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and the Secretary of State for International Trade. By convention, Dorneywood is at the disposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministerial use of these official residences is managed by the relevant Government Department. Information on the time taken for Ministers to vacate those residences on leaving office is not held centrally.

Part-time Employment

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of people employed on a part-time basis in the last twelve months.

Chloe Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response 
(PDF Document, 70.3 KB)

Department of Health and Social Care

Allergies: Medical Equipment

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many epipens the NHS has available for patients.

Steve Brine: Both adult and paediatric adrenaline auto-injectors are available from suppliers for the National Health Service to order for patients. We expect around 70,000 adult adrenaline auto-injectors and 30,000 paediatric adrenaline auto-injectors will have been supplied to the United Kingdom in October.

Prescriptions

Martin Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing recommendation prescriptions to (a) reduce pressure on general practice and (b) ensure patients access appropriate over-the-counter treatments.

Steve Brine: The Department has made no such assessment.

Department of Health and Social Care: Public Expenditure

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement entitled £240 million social care investment to ease NHS winter pressures, published by his Department on 2 October 2018, what recent estimate his Department has made of the (a) Resources Department Expenditure Limit, (b) Capital Department Expenditure Limit and (c) Total Department Expenditure Limit for his Department in 2018/19.

Stephen Barclay: The Department’s spending plans for 2018-19 Resources Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) and Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) were published as part of the 2018-19 Main Supply Estimates to Parliament in April 2018. Total Departmental Expenditure Limit (TDEL), under HM Treasury conventions, is calculated as the sum of RDEL and CDEL less the ring-fenced element of RDEL that is for depreciation. The Department’s ring-fenced RDEL budget for 2018-19 is £1.531 billion. Estimates are:YearRDELCDELTDEL2018-19123.56.4128.4Note:All figures are £ billion. RDEL is presented here including ringfenced funding of depreciation costs, of £1.5 billion. TDEL = RDEL + CDEL – RF. Revisions to the Department’s 2018-19 spending plans will be published by HM Treasury in February 2019 as part of the Supplementary Supply Estimates.

Department of Health and Social Care: Institute of Economic Affairs

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list all occasions on which he met a representative of the Institute for Economic Affairs since his appointment as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

Caroline Dinenage: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not met with the representatives of the Institute for Economic Affairs since his appointment.

Health Professions

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to secure additional funding for (i) health visitors and (ii) school nurses.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government is investing £16 billion into local authority public health functions over the current five-year spending review period until 2020/21. It is the responsibility of local authorities to commission the health visitor and school nurse services that meet the needs of their local population.

Proof of Identity: Oldham

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of applications for Care Quality Commission DBS checks used the ID verification service at Oldham Post Office.

Caroline Dinenage: According to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) data, a total of 16,974 applications for a CQC DBS check were submitted between 1 July 2017 and 1 July 2018. The Post Office transactional data shows that 220 CQC DBS applications were processed at the Oldham Post Office between the same period. The proportion is close to 1.3%.

Asthma

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of preventable deaths from (a) asthma and (b) complications arising from asthma attacks.

Steve Brine: The Government has a mandate to NHS England for 2018-19 which holds the National Health Service to account for the measures in the NHS Outcomes Framework. One of the aims of this framework is to reduce the number of preventable deaths from respiratory diseases, including asthma. Respiratory care is also one of the areas being considered as part of the NHS long-term plan currently in development. Other steps being taken include:- the commissioning of specialised respiratory services for severe asthma by NHS England;- the NHS offering the flu vaccine free of charge to those with severe asthma;- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for asthma to improve care quality and reduce the risk of asthma attacks; and- guidance for the public which advises people to follow a personal asthma action plan, created with their clinician, to help monitor their condition and receive advice on what to do in the case of an asthma attack. The guidance is available at the following link: www.nhs.uk/conditions/asthma

Learning Disability: Training

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that NHS nurses receive adequate training on learning disabilities.

Caroline Dinenage: National Health Service trusts have a statutory responsibility to provide sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent staff to meet the needs of the people using health services, including those with a learning disability. The professional regulators for nurses, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), set the standards and assess curricula for nurse education. The NMC’s Standards of pre-registration nursing programmes state: Approved education institutions, together with practice learning partners, must design and deliver a programme that supports students and provides exposure across all four fields of nursing practice: adult, mental health, learning disabilities and children’s nursing. The Government response to the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme Second Annual Report published in September 2018 agrees that health and care staff should have access to learning disability awareness training and will consult by the end of March 2019 on options for delivering this to staff. Mandatory learning disability awareness training should be provided to all staff, delivered in conjunction with people with learning disabilities and their families.

NHS: Innovation

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to ensure that NHS staff are appropriately trained to use new innovations in diagnostic technology.

Stephen Barclay: The Cancer Workforce Plan for England, published in December 2017 by Health Education England (HEE), set out the actions needed to target additional training support for several priority professions, including diagnostic and therapeutic radiography. There are several initiatives to prepare the healthcare workforce, through education and training, to deliver the digital future. For example, the Topol Review, led by cardiologist, geneticist, and digital medicine researcher Dr Eric Topol and facilitated by HEE, is exploring how best to enable National Health Service staff to make the most of technologies such as genetic diagnostics.

Infectious Diseases: Diagnosis

Sir Kevin Barron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the geographical variation in access to high quality bacterial and viral diagnostic technology.

Caroline Dinenage: Public Health England (PHE) operates a number of microbiology laboratories across England which provides national coverage, regardless of geographic location, and works closely with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’s devolved administrations. These laboratories complement and expand on the testing that is undertaken in a larger laboratory network operating throughout the National Health Service to provide frontline diagnostics. PHE’s laboratories use many different diagnostic technologies, including traditional and molecular microbiological, serological and innovative genomic approaches to recognise pathogens and diagnose infections promptly. These cover infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoal parasites. The results of PHE laboratory testing are provided directly to the NHS to support patient management, to reduce risks of onwards transmission and to minimise threats to public health throughout England.

Mental Illness: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18th October 2018, to Question 178267 on Mental Illness: Cumbria, if he will publish the records for appointment requests to (a) Child and adolescent mental health services and (b) GPs for mental health related issues for under 18s in Cumbria in the format they are held.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The requested information is not available.

Diabetes: Eating Disorders

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the quality of care available for Type 1 diabetics with diabulimia; and if he will take steps to improve such provision.

Steve Brine: NHS England recognises the importance of establishing the most effective approaches to the treatment of diabulimia. Funds have been allocated for two pilots to test and trial integrated type 1 diabetes and mental health pathways of treatment and support for diabulimia, together with an independent evaluation, in order to inform learning for potential wider application around the country. Both of these will take place in the coming months.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time taken is for patients to receive their smear test results in each NHS trust area.

Steve Brine: Data on the average time taken for patients to receive their smear test results in each National Health Service trust area are not collected.

Pathology

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of staffing levels in Histopathology Departments in each NHS Trust in England.

Stephen Barclay: Responsibility for staffing levels rests with individual National Health Service trusts and their boards who are best placed to decide how many staff they need to provide a given service, taking into account skill mix, efficiency and the needs of their local population.

Stem Cells: Donors

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage (a) men aged 16-30 and (b) people from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds to sign up to the stem cell donor register.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Young people play a pivotal role in the stem cell landscape. Research has identified that younger donors offer the potential for better patient outcomes and a greater chance of survival. In 2017, 82% of people who were selected to donate their stem cells were male, and 58% were men aged 30 and under. In acknowledgement of this fact, the Department provides funding to Anthony Nolan and NHS Blood and Transplant to support recruitment of young male donors. In 2017 69% of new potential donors recruited to the United Kingdom registry were under the age of 30, and 40% of new potential donors were male. The Department also funds Anthony Nolan and NHS Blood and Transplant to improve equity of access to unrelated donor stem cell transplantation for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) patients through targeted recruitment to the Anthony Nolan and the NHS Stem Cell Registry. The Department has provided more than £26 million to NHS Blood and Transplant and Anthony Nolan for stem cell donation since 2011 and have set very specific targets about the proportion of donors that must be from BAME backgrounds; for example, in this financial year, Anthony Nolan will continue to target more than 35% of the umbilical cords stored in the UK Cord Blood Bank to be donated by mothers from BAME backgrounds.

Sanitary Protection

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of the proposals made by Unite the Union in its Period Dignity Charter published on 24 September 2018.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has made no such assessment.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will accept all the recommendations of the National Audit Office’s report entitled Improving children and young people’s mental health services, published in October 2018.

Jackie Doyle-Price: We welcome the National Audit Office’s focus on the important area of children and young people’s mental health services. We are going above and beyond many of the original recommendations set out in Future in Mind, for example, in improving support and access to services in schools through the recent Green Paper. We have also set ambitious targets on access, which we are on track to meet. The National Health Service will also be considering what more it can do to improve children and young people’s mental health through the Long-Term Plan for the NHS.

Doctors: Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of allocating funding for additional domestic medical student places as a result of NHS demand for staff.

Stephen Barclay: The Government has announced a record increase of an additional 1,500 medical school places for domestic students in England – 630 started this September, with a further 690 starting in 2019/20 and the final 180 in 2020/21. This expansion will also deliver five brand new medical schools in Sunderland, Lancashire, Chelmsford, Lincoln and Canterbury. On the back of the additional £20 billion additional National Health Service funding, NHS leaders are currently producing a long-term plan that will include proposals for the NHS workforce, training and leadership, which the Government will consider and respond to in due course.

Rehabilitation Centres: Location

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to (a) NHS Trusts and (b) Care Commissioning Groups on consulting local communities on the location of drug and alcohol recovery and treatment centres.

Steve Brine: It is for local authorities to determine the location of drug and alcohol recovery and treatment centres based on specific local needs. This requires that local communities are consulted on as part of an application for a new drug and alcohol treatment service. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Planning Portal is the home for all current guidance, which is available at the following link: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/ Public Health England provides annual needs assessment data and information on evidence-based interventions for local authority commissioners to use when planning new drug and alcohol treatment services.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets sustainable development goal 13 on climate change.

Penny Mordaunt: The UK played a key role in establishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and we are determined to be at the forefront of delivering them. To support developing countries to respond to the challenges of climate change, the UK has pledged to provide at least £5.8bn of International Climate Finance between 2016/17 and 2020/21. Since 2011 UK climate investments have supported 47 million people to cope with the effects of climate change and provided 17 million people with improved access to clean energy. The UK is also working with the UN to lead international efforts on resilience for the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in 2019.

Cameroon: Humanitarian Aid

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the humanitarian situation in Cameroon.

Penny Mordaunt: There are significant humanitarian needs in Cameroon with over 460,000 people displaced by recent violence in the Anglophone regions, in addition to the 700,000 people displaced as a result of insecurity both in the far north around Lake Chad and in the Central African Republic. More than 3.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. We are providing £5.5 million in humanitarian support to Cameroon this year, including for protection, nutrition, health, food security and livelihoods.

Cameroon: Humanitarian Aid

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff her Department has sent to Cameroon to assess the humanitarian situation in that country.

Penny Mordaunt: We have a humanitarian adviser based in Cameroon who works with partners to regularly assess the humanitarian situation. We are also funding a protection adviser in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to work on the Anglophone Crisis.

Ethiopia: Poliomyelitis

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the ability of Ethiopia to maintain its polio vaccine programme after the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in that country has ended.

Harriett Baldwin: Ethiopia was declared polio-free in 2014 and current estimates report that 76% of children in Ethiopia are receiving three doses of polio vaccine. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is supporting Ethiopia with technical assistance to strengthen surveillance systems and with supplementary immunisation campaigns to mitigate the risk of importation from neighbouring countries that are experiencing outbreaks. It is a key priority for the UK that countries are supported to transition polio funded assets to the national government and partner organisations after GPEI sunsets upon global eradication. Part of the UK’s funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) is conditional on this being met. Ethiopia has a costed polio transition plan in place and the UK will continue to monitor WHO’s support to Ethiopia for implementing this plan. The UK is also providing financial and technical support to strengthen Ethiopia’s health system to ensure the country remains polio free.

Department for Education

School Day

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits for teenagers at school of staggering the start-time of the school day.

Nick Gibb: The Changing of School Session Times (England) Regulations (1999), which prescribed the procedures maintained schools had to follow when changing the school day, were revoked in September 2011: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/1954/made. The governing bodies of all maintained schools in England now have the freedom to revise the length of the school day as they see fit. All schools have the autonomy to make decisions about the content, structure and duration of their school day, including the flexibility to decide when their school day should start and finish. We trust head teachers to decide how best to structure their school day to support their pupils’ education. There are no specific legal requirements about how long the school day should be. Governing bodies of maintained schools are responsible for deciding when morning and afternoon sessions should begin and end on each school day.

Regional Schools Commissioners

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools each regional schools commissioner is responsible for.

Nick Gibb: Table 1 below shows the number of schools in each of the Regional Schools Commissioner regions as of October 2018. Table 1. Number of schools, including academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges under the responsibility of Regional Schools Commissioners by region.   RSC RegionNumber of SchoolsEast of England and North East London1137East Midlands and Humber1239Lancashire and West Yorkshire841North507North West London and South Central1077South East and South London1148South West1184West Midlands1096Grand Total8229  Data correct as of 03/10/2018Source: Get Information About Schools: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.

IGCSE

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data Ofqual holds on IGCSE entries for (a) state-funded and (b) independent schools.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Ofqual, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. I have asked its Chief Regulator, Sally Collier, to write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding programmes are in place to support (a) early intervention for children with additional needs and (b) other aspects of nurture care.

Nadhim Zahawi: Children’s services, including for meeting additional needs, nurture and care, are delivered locally. Statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ is clear that local areas should have a comprehensive range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address assessed needs early. The 2015 Spending Review made available more than £200 billion until 2020 for councils to deliver local services, including children’s services. Through the local government finance settlement, local government has been given access to £45.1 billion in 2018-19 and £45.6 billion in 2019-20. This is an overall increase since 2017-18 of £1.3 billion.In addition, the Department for Education’s National Funding Formula has an additional needs factor, directing more funding to local authorities with more need. Local authorities also receive high needs funding, which supports educational provision up-to age 25. High needs funding has risen by £1 billion since 2013 and will be over £6 billion next year.Beyond these funding streams, across government, there are a wide range of programmes underway to address the root causes of children’s needs early. This includes:- £8 million funding for supporting children affected by domestic abuse.- £200 million youth endowment fund preventing young people being drawn into serious violence.- £1.4 billion investment to transform children and young people’s mental health services from 2015/16 to 2019/20, with £300 million proposals outlined in the 'Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper (2017)' in addition to this.- £920 million committed to the Troubled Families Programme, which aims to achieve significant and sustained improvement for up to 400,000 families with multiple, high-cost problems by 2020.In meeting other additional needs such as special education needs and disabilities (SEND), there are a range of measures put in place to ensure that local areas can put the right support in place for children and their families to access early education. Our disability access fund is worth £615 per eligible child per year, and there is a requirement that local authorities establish a SEND Inclusion Fund for three and four year olds, to ensure children with SEND get the best from the free childcare entitlements. Since 2014, we have invested £391 million for local areas to implement SEND reforms. Funding for children’s social care is an unringfenced part of the wider local government finance settlement, to give local authorities the flexibility to focus on locally determined priorities as well as meeting statutory responsibilities. Local authorities used this flexibility to increase spending on children and young people’s services to around £9.2 billion in 2016-17. The department has also invested £200 million in our Innovation Programme, so councils and others have support to trial ways to reform services to be more effective. This includes strands focused on children at the edge of Children in Need services and on reducing children entering care. This is also an early priority for the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, which is funded to make a positive difference to practice and outcomes for children and families by improving the quality and use of evidence.

Pupils: Cerebral Palsy

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure provision for pupils with cerebral palsy in schools.

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will include guidance on education provision for children with cerebral palsy to teacher training courses.

Nadhim Zahawi: It is important that children with medical conditions, such as cerebral palsy, are supported to receive a full education. Under Section 100 of the Children and Families Act (2014), governing boards are required to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance.The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3, and covers a range of areas including the preparation and implementation of school policies for supporting pupils with medical conditions, the use of individual healthcare plans, staff training, medicines administration, roles and responsibilities, consulting with parents and collaborative working with healthcare professionals. It was developed with a range of stakeholders including the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance (HCSA), school leaders, academy organisations, unions, young people and their parents, and Department of Health and Social Care officials and is based on good practice in schools.We continue to work with organisations such as the HCSA to help raise further awareness of the duty on schools.To be awarded qualified teacher status, trainees must meet the teachers’ standards, which include a requirement that they adapt teaching to meet the strengths and needs of all pupils. The performance of all existing teachers in maintained schools must be assessed every year against the teachers’ standards. It is the responsibility of school leaders to determine the training needs of their staff within their approach to school improvement, professional development and performance management.Staff training is critical in enabling school staff to provide the support needed to pupils with medical conditions. The statutory guidance is clear that governing boards should ensure that any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs has received suitable training. It also states that training should be sufficient as to ensure that staff are competent and have confidence in their ability to support pupils with medical conditions, and to fulfil the requirements as set out in individual healthcare plans.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of schools in Coventry that have access to child psychologists; and if he will make a statement.

Nadhim Zahawi: Holding answer received on 26 October 2018



The information requested is not held centrally.Since 2006 the Department for Education has funded the training of educational psychologists, prior to this the training was funded by the Children's Workforce Development Council. The department currently fund 160 educational psychologists per academic year to provide a steady supply of educational psychologists into the workforce to ensure children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, social, emotional and mental health issues and other vulnerable groups, get the support they need to achieve their full potential.

Primary Education: Nurseries

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary education: nurseries, whether a cost benefit analysis is undertaken on plans for new primary schools (a) with and (b) without nursery provision.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Primary Education: Nurseries

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary Education: nurseries, what estimate he has made of the average cost to the public purse of including nursery provision in a new primary school.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Education

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each local authority are in the lowest 20 per cent for attainment in schools.

Nick Gibb: An overview of the number of pupils in each local authority who, at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2018 (provisional data) were ranked in the bottom 20% nationally according to the Attainment 8[1] measure, is shown in the attached tables. The figures are based on pupils in state funded schools, and the tables also show the numbers as a proportion of all state funded pupils in each local authority. [1] Attainment 8 is part of the new secondary accountability system that was implemented for all schools from 2016. It measures maths (double weighted), English (double weighted), three EBacc subjects and three others (can include EBacc). Each grade achieved constitutes a point score, which is used to calculate the Attainment 8 score. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gcse-and-equivalent-results-2017-to-2018-provisional. 



182778_LA_pupil_attainment_table
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Schools: Finance

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many referrals were made to the police in relation to the finances of (a) academies and (b) free schools.

Nadhim Zahawi: Holding answer received on 26 October 2018



Since the establishment of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) on 1 April 2012, the ESFA has taken action to refer:a) 16 academies to the police, of whichb) 2 are free schools,in relation to their finances.The ESFA does not hold data regarding local authority maintained schools referred to the police in relation to their finances. This data is managed by local authorities.

Pupil Premium: Adoption

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department are taking to extend access to pupil premium plus funding for adopted children who are (a) home educated, (b) educated at independent schools and (c) adopted from overseas.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Children: Day Care

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department has made available for families that have a child eligible for 30 hours of free childcare but mistakenly do not apply for an eligibility code.

Nadhim Zahawi: The government is committed to ensuring parents have access to high-quality affordable childcare. The termly deadline for the 30 hours offer has been made clear to local authorities, providers and parents, and the department expects parents to adhere to these deadlines to ensure they are able to access a 30 hours place for their child. The government has invested in strong and clear communications on the 30 hours offer, including a cross government website, Childcare Choices, which clearly sets out how and when a parent can access a place: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. The department recognises that some applications may be delayed in the childcare service, that is why we have put in place a 14-day discretionary period for those parents who applied in time but received a code after the deadline, through no fault of their own. Parents who are eligible for 30 hours of free childcare but miss the termly deadline will continue to remain eligible for the universal 15 hour per week early education entitlement before they can access a 30 hours place the following term. They can also take advantage of Tax-Free Childcare which was introduced earlier this year.

Higher Education: Young People

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of gap years in improving educational outcomes for students.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The department has not made any recent assessment of the effectiveness of gap years in improving educational outcomes for students. In 2012, we published a study that examined the characteristics of gap-year takers, their motivations, what they did and what effect it had on their longer-term outcomes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gap-year-takers-uptake-trends-and-long-term-outcomes.

IGCSE

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of GCSE entries in (a) state and (b) independent schools were IGCSEs in 2018.

Nick Gibb: For pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2018, the number of international GCSE entries and their proportion of GCSE and equivalent entries in 2017/18 is provided below:Institution typeNumber of international GCSE entriesAs a proportion of  GCSE and equivalentsState-funded7,8240.2%Independent26,02410.9%Other (e.g. Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provision)3371.4%All schools34,1850.8% For pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2018, the number of entries in approved international GCSEs (those which count in the department’s school and college performance tables), and their proportion of all GCSE and equivalent entries in 2017/18 counted in performance tables, is provided below:Institution typeNumber of international GCSE entriesAs a proportion of  GCSE and equivalentsState-funded5,7820.1%Independent1,8480.9%Other (e.g. Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provision)210.1%All schools7,6510.2%

Apprentices: Wolverhampton North East

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of apprenticeships have been created in each month since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in Wolverhampton North East Constituency.

Anne Milton: The attached table in Annex A provides the figures for apprenticeship starts in Wolverhampton North East constituency for each month since changes were made to apprenticeship funding from May 2017, following the introduction of the levy. 



Annex_A_for_PQ_182760
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Teachers: Recruitment

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the level of recruitment of teachers for T Levels in colleges.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding his Department plans to allocate for the recruitment of additional specialist teachers for T Levels in Colleges.

Anne Milton: We are investing up to £20 million over the two years to March 2020 to support providers as they prepare for the introduction of T levels. This includes a new, bespoke programme of professional development to help improve the knowledge and skills of those teaching T levels, as well as our new £5 million Taking Teaching Further programme. This programme will support up to 150 industry professionals to train to teach in the further education (FE) sector.Although FE institutions are private sector organisations responsible for their own workforce planning, we are working closely with providers, including the first T level providers, to understand how best we can support the effective recruitment, retention and development of the teachers and leaders that the sector needs to secure the best possible outcomes for learners. We will be looking carefully at these issues in the forthcoming Spending Review.

Apprentices

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that Aspire Achieve Advance apprentices are able to complete their apprenticeship qualifications after the provider ceased trading.

Anne Milton: We want to help support all Aspire Achieve Advance apprentices and to ensure minimum disruption to their learning. The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has established a specialist taskforce to make sure that apprentices can continue their programmes with alternative providers. The ESFA has written to all affected employers and learners to provide them with reassurance and explain the next steps. The ESFA has also set up a dedicated email address for enquiries from concerned apprentices, parents, or employers. The ESFA is also working with employers and providers to ensure apprentices are transferred to new providers as quickly as possible.

Students: Loans

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the amount allocated for advanced learner loans in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16, (c) 2016-17, (d) 2017-18 and (e) 2018-19; and for each of those years what the total amount of funding taken up by learners was.

Anne Milton: The department accounts for Advanced Learner Loans funding as annually managed expenditure, due to their demand-led nature and inherent volatility. The department forecasts annual outlay for Advanced Learner Loans.The attached table, in Annex A, sets out the Advanced Learner Loans outlay for 2014/15 to 2017/18, and the forecast outlay for 2018/19. The table relates to loan issuance values only and excludes repayments received. 



Annex_A_table_for_PQ_182695
(Word Document, 53 KB)

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the provision of (a) 30 hours of free childcare and (b) tax-free childcare on the number of childcare information officers employed by local authorities.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally. The provision of children information officers is a matter for individual local authorities. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents and prospective parents on the provision of childcare in their area, including the 30 hours offer and HM Revenue and Customs Tax-Free Childcare. The government requires all local authorities to pass through 95% of their three and four year old funding to early years providers. The department also provides direct support from officials and through our delivery partner, Childcare Works, to ensure they are best placed to deliver the government’s childcare offers.

Primary Education: Nurseries

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2018 to Question 179290 on Primary Education: Nurseries, how many (a) mainstream and (b) special primary schools that opened since September 2017 (a) have, (b) have plans for and (c) do not have nursery provision.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Justice

Detainees: ICT

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to make it a criminal offence to knowingly communicate with a person detained in the criminal justice system using an electronic communications system.

Edward Argar: It is already an offence to have or use a mobile phone in prison without authorisation. We therefore have no plans to create a new offence of knowingly communicating with someone in the criminal justice system using devices such as mobile phones. We are taking urgent and decisive action to tackle the threat of illegal phones including detection dogs, body scanners and intelligence-led searches. We also continue to utilise Telecommunications Restriction Orders to block specific mobile phones being used in prisons. To reduce demand for illicit mobile phones, we are also expanding the roll out of in-cell telephones. These operate under strict controls with the aim of improving rehabilitation, cutting crime and protecting the public.

Berwyn Prison

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2018 to Question 171712, if he will publish his Department's plan for bringing HMP Berwyn up to full capacity.

Edward Argar: HMP Berwyn in Wrexham, North Wales opened on 27 February 2017, and when fully operational, will create 2,106 modern and efficient prison places holding category C men. The latest data for Berwyn (published September 2018) shows a population of just over 1170 and is currently ramping up its population as part of its safe mobilisation. When the prison is at full capacity it will be the largest prison in the UK therefore the ramp up of population needs to affiliate with the continual recruitment, training and attrition of staff and the number of purposeful activity spaces available. This is paramount to provide an environment safe for those who work and reside within the prison whilst delivering a rehabilitative purpose.

Offences Against Children: Sentencing

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October to Question 176311 on Offences Against Children: Sentencing, of the 3,234 people given custodial sentences in 2017 how many were (a) men and (b) women.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October to Question 176311, how many people were given prison sentences for child sexual abuse offences of (a) up to one year, (b) one to five years, (c) five to 10 years and (d) 10 years or more by plea in each year between 2010 and 2016.

Edward Argar: Of the 3,234 offenders who received immediate custodial sentences at the Crown Court in 2017 for child sexual abuse offences, 3,186 were male and 48 were female. This information can be found in Table 1. The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody for child sexual abuse offences at the Crown Court between 2010 and 2016 can be found in Table 2. This information is broken down by sentences of up to and including one year, over one year up to and including five years, over five years and up to and including ten years, over ten years and less than life, and life sentence. Information on plea entered is provided for offenders sentenced at the Crown Court only and is not provided for offenders sentenced at a magistrates’ court as this information is not held centrally within the Court Proceedings Database.



Table one & Table two
(Excel SpreadSheet, 22.91 KB)

Offences Against Children: Sentencing

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October to Question 176311, how many of the 3,234 people who were given prison sentences for child sexual abuse offences in 2017 had previously been convicted of other child sexual abuse offences.

Rory Stewart: Information on how many people who were sentenced to immediate custody for child sexual abuse offences at the Crown Court in 2017 had previously been convicted of other child sexual abuse offences is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Animal Welfare: Prosecutions

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were prosecuted under the (a) Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (b) Deer Act 1991 and (c) Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were found guilty of offences under the (a) Protection of Badgers Act 1992, (b) Deer Act 1991, (c) Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and (d) Hunting Act 2004 in 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Rory Stewart: The number of people prosecuted and convicted for offences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, Deer Act 1991, Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 and Hunting Act 2004 in 2017 can be found in published ‘Experimental statistics: Principal offence proceedings and outcomes by Home Office offence code data tool’ available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/738814/HO-Code-Tool-2017.xlsx The specific offences to search for are:‘Summary offences under the Deer Act 1991 – e.g. taking, injuring or killing deer’ (offence code: 12111)‘Offences under the Hunting Act 2004’‘Hunting a wild mammal with a dog’ (offence code: 12113)‘Knowingly permitting land to be entered or used in the course of hunting a wild mammal with dogs’ (12114)‘Knowingly permitting a dog to be used in the course of hunting a wild mammal’ (12115)‘Participating in a hare coursing event’ (12116)‘Attending a hare coursing event’ (12117)‘Knowingly facilitating a hare coursing event’ (12118)‘Permitting land to be used for the purpose of a hare coursing event’ (12119),‘Entering a dog for a hare coursing event’, ‘Permitting a dog to be entered for a hare coursing event’, ‘Controlling or handling a dog at a hare coursing event’ (all 12120) ‘Offences under Protection of Badgers Act 1992’ – ‘offences of cruelty to badgers and special protection for badgers and their setts’ (offence code: 10822)[1]‘Offences under Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996’ – ‘cruelty to a wild mammal’ (offence code: 10825) Where there are no codes available for the year 2017 (or other years), this means that there have been no prosecutions or convictions under that offence code in that year. [1] Offences under both the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and Protection of Badgers Act 1992 should not be included as it is not possible to identify whether all of the individual offences within this offence group are related to badgers.

Berwyn Prison: Repairs and Maintenance

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many reports of (a) fault with electricity, (b) fault with heating and (c) structural damage have been made at HMP Berwyn since its opening.

Edward Argar: Since the opening of HMP Berwyn in February 2017 there have been four reported faults with electricity, two reported faults with heating and one report of structural damage. All the reported faults were dealt with promptly, with the causes identified and where applicable the potential for other similar issues investigated. HMP Berwyn is a key part of our investment to reform and modernise the prison estate and it is performing well. In their annual report released this July the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Berwyn said that the Ministry of Justice was to be applauded for supporting the building and operation of a new establishment with a new progressive regime.

Small Claims: Electronic Government

Sir Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of claims made through the online money claims service have been struck out since that service was launched; and what the corresponding figures are for money claims under £10,000 filed at court in the same time period.

Lucy Frazer: This information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. As the Online Civil Money Claims service progresses and supports the complete journey for civil money claims, it will be able to capture a much wider range of data about the stages that cases reach and the variation of outcomes.

Antisocial Behaviour: Wales

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were fined for late payment of penalty notice for disorder in Wales in each year between 2013 and 2017.

Lucy Frazer: The information requested is not held centrally.

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by HM Inspectorate of Probation entitled Domestic abuse: the work undertaken by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), published in September 2018, what assessment he has made of the quality of care provided by CRCs as a result of that report's conclusions.

Edward Argar: We take seriously the findings of the HM Inspectorate of Probation report on the work undertaken by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) in relation to domestic abuse. We will publish a detailed action plan in November to address the recommendations made by the Inspectorate, and we require CRCs to develop their own robust action plans in response to specific recommendations. These plans will be closely monitored by the department’s contract management assurance and governance process. Our reforms to probation mean we are now monitoring around 40,000 offenders who would previously have been released with no supervision at all. However, we have been clear that CRCs need to improve across a range of areas. In September we concluded a public consultation on proposals to end current CRC contracts early and introduce new arrangements for delivering probation services. As part of these changes we are considering how to ensure probation plays its full part in tackling domestic abuse and protecting victims.

Prisoners' Release: Females

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to (a) conduct a review on the number of deaths of women following release from prison and (b) seek to identify his Department can take to protect women upon release.

Edward Argar: We publish annual statistics on deaths of offenders in the community, which include the deaths of women under post-release supervision. The data for 2017-18 was published on 25 October 2018. It shows that 40 women under post-release supervision died in 2017-18, down from 44 in 2016-17. It is existing policy for all such deaths to be reviewed. Probation providers are required to examine the circumstances of each death and to determine whether the way that they work with offenders could be improved in order to make future deaths less likely. We are considering whether this requirement could be strengthened, particularly to improve the sharing of learning nationally. On 27 June we published our strategy for female offenders, which sets out our vision and plan to improve outcomes for women both in the community and in custody. A key theme in the strategy is the need for a joined-up approach to addressing female offenders’ often complex needs. We know that we will make progress in meeting these needs only by adopting a partnership approach at both national and local level. We hope to publish our National Concordat on Female Offenders by the end of the year. This will be a cross-governmental statement of intent and commitment to improve the outcomes for female offenders in a holistic, whole-systems approach.

Prisoners: Self-harm

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the by HM Prison and Probation Service entitled: Self-harm by adult men in prison: A rapid evidence assessment, published in September 2018, whether he plans to undertake further research to explore the potential link between self-harm and violence or aggression in male prisoners as recommended in that report.

Edward Argar: The link between self-harm and violence is well established and informs our existing policy. For instance, the Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) case management process for prisoners at risk of self-harm or suicide already includes an enhanced case management process for use where prisoners pose a risk of harm to others, as well as to themselves. We continue to develop our work with this link in mind. The Prison Safety Programme includes a range of measures designed to address both violence and suicide and self-harm in our prisons. A study of individuals engaged in ‘dual harm’ (both to themselves and to others) is taking place in a number of prisons, and the early findings have been used to inform the programme.

Department for International Trade

UK Export Finance

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much of the £3 billion of UK Export Finance available for direct lending has been allocated.

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether the £3 billion available under UK Export Finance's Direct Lending Facility will be replenished as previous loans are repaid.

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which (a) countries and (b) companies have received finance from the Direct Lending Facility and at what amount in the last 12 months.

Graham Stuart: Approximately £1.745bn of the £3bn available under UK Export Finance’s (UKEF) Direct Lending Facility has been committed. UKEF’s £3bn Direct Lending Facility is recyclable, so that when the principal is repaid, it can then be re-lent for other projects in the future. Where such information is not commercially sensitive, UKEF publishes details of the companies it has supported, the export country, the type of support provided and the amount of support provided on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) which are presented to Parliament and can be found on UKEF’s website. The most recent ARA covers the Financial Year 2017-18. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-export-finance-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018 Information for the remainder of 2018 will be published in UKEF’s ARA, 2018-19.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Hospitals: Insulation

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to Written Statement of 9 October 2018 on Building safety update, HCWS976, whether he plans to extend the ban on combustible materials to all hospitals irrespective of height.

Kit Malthouse: The Government consulted on applying the ban to residential buildings with a top storey more than 18 metres above ground level, in line with current Building Regulation’s guidance. Following analysis of consultation responses we also included hospitals above 18 metres. The majority of respondents to the consultation showed support for this height threshold and it will be used as the basis for the ban to be consistent with current guidance. The Government will review this height threshold as part of the wider technical review of the building regulations for fire safety set to start in the Autumn.The NHS already has a very good record of fire safety, but cannot remain complacent. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, NHS organisations must, as far as is reasonably practicable, make sure that everyone on the premises, or nearby, can escape safely if there is a fire. Therefore, they will consider the ban on combustible cladding as part of the regular fire risk assessments they carry out on their estate when they have new build or refurbishment. This will include whether it applies to all walls irrespective of height of the hospital.

Estate Agents: Disclosure of Information

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether estate agents are required to disclose the criminal convictions of a previous occupant of a property to a potential new occupant.

Kit Malthouse: National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team have published guidance in this area. It would depend on the type, seriousness and age of the convictions. The estate agent would need to determine whether the conviction would have a material impact on the purchaser's future in the property. For example, would they have paid the asking price, or bought the property in the first place had they known.

Antisocial Behaviour: Cars

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of local government powers to tackle car cruising.

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to help local authorities tackle car cruising.

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on tackling car cruising.

Rishi Sunak: The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has not met the Secretary of State for Justice to discuss car cruising.The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides the police, local authorities and other local agencies with a range of flexible powers that they can use to respond quickly and effectively to different forms of anti-social and nuisance behaviour.The powers include the Community Protection Notice which can be used by the police or the local authority to deal with particular problems or nuisances, including noise related, that are having a persistent or continuing and detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality; the Civil Injunction which allows the police, local councils and other local agencies to apply to the court for an injunction against an individual or individuals in a range of circumstances where their behaviour is causing, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress; a Criminal Behaviour Order which can be issued by a court against an individual convicted of an offence to stop the behaviour of the most destructive individuals; a Public Spaces Protection Order which councils can issue to stop people committing anti-social behaviour in a public space; a Dispersal Power which can be used by the police to move-on problem groups or individuals; and a Closure Power which the police and councils can use to close premises that are a magnet for trouble.The powers in the 2014 Act are deliberately local in nature, and it is for local agencies to determine whether their use is appropriate in the specific circumstances which apply.The police also have the power under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to seize vehicles. This can be as a result of using a vehicle in a careless and inconsiderate manner, contrary to the Road Traffic Act 1988, and in a manner causing alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public. Before so doing, a constable is required to give a warning that the vehicle will be seized unless the behaviour stops. The only exception is where a warning is impractical, or has already been given on that occasion, or given to the same person within the previous 12 months. The requirement for a warning provides people with the chance to stop their behaviour of their own accord and ensures the power of seizure is only used when necessary. Seizure, if carried out, puts an immediate stop to the behaviour in question. The seizure is not permanent: the owner can reclaim the vehicle on payment of prescribed removal and storage charges.Any assessment of the effectiveness of these powers would be a matter for the Home Office.

Ministry of Defence

International Military Services: Legal Costs and Pay

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) legal fees and (b) directors’ emoluments in relation to IMS Ltd since that company ceased trading in July 1991.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

International Military Services: Expenditure

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much has been spent in relation to IMS Ltd since it ceased trading; and what steps he takes to monitor the reasonableness of those costs.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Navy: Arctic

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to publish the ten-year plan on the development of Maritime and Royal Marine activity in the High North by the end of October 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The ten-year plan on the development of Maritime and Royal Marine activity in the High North will not be published in the public domain due to security classification.However, the Defence Arctic Strategy, announced by the Secretary of State for Defence on 30 September, is currently expected to be published in the first quarter of 2019, and its assumptions and content will represent the public elements of the ten-year plan.

Iraq: Military Intervention

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of (a) civilian casualties, (b) damage to property, community facilities and infrastructure by RAF strikes in Mosul in 2016-17.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether restrictions have been placed on the work of Saudi-based UK (a) military personnel and (b) private contractors to his Department, in relation to the (i) preparation, (ii) maintenance and (iii) operational use of air-delivered weapons used in the conflict in Yemen.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Saudi Arabia: Armed Forces

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what guidance the Government provides to (a) Saudi-based UK military personnel and (b) private contractors to the MoD under Saudi armed forces project on reporting suspicions of violations of international humanitarian law.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Shipbuilding: River Clyde

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government plans to support the construction of a frigate factory on the River Clyde.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence: Brexit

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what preparations his Department has made for the UK leaving the EU.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces: Housing

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps the Government is taking to improve (a) housing and (b) lodgings for armed forces personnel.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces: Political Parties and Trade Unions

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will review his Department's policy on the right of armed forces personnel to join a (a) trades union and (b) political party.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the armed forces of the UK leaving the EU.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Reserve Forces: Surveys

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of reserves who (a) initially received and (b) have been sent reminders to complete the negotiating civilian and military life survey.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many reminders his Department has issued in relation to completing the survey on negotiating civilian and military life.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many responses from members of the Reserve Forces there were to the survey on negotiating military and civilian life; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish the results of the survey on negotiating civilian and military life; if he will make a statement.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that information on the survey on negotiating civilian and military life was disseminated to Army Reservists.

Mark Lancaster: The Confidential Employer and Families Survey on Reserves, Family and Work (as part of the Future Reserves Research Programme (FRRP)) was placed onto the Defence Connect and Defence Gateway, the Ministry of Defence's (MOD) on-line platforms for Defence Personnel. The survey was launched on 2 March 2018 with a blog that was viewed by 2,814 people and re-blogged into around 250 Reservist pages across the three Services. The survey was available continuously over an 8-week period, with Defence Connect and Defence Gateway viewed around 1,879,000 and 871,000 times respectively during that time.The survey was undertaken by a consortium of university researchers and disseminated by the Army on behalf of all three Services. The MOD has been advised that there were around 400 responses to the survey. It is expected that the results of the survey will be shared through the FRRP website before the end of the year.

Reserve Forces: Staff

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many full-time reservists there were in each year between 2015 and 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Armed Forces: Weather

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, at what level within the duty holder concept does authority rest for the (a) cancellation and (b) rescheduling of a selection (i) recruitment and (ii) training event in the event of (A) adverse and (B) extreme weather conditions.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any (a) training, (b) selection and (c) exercises in the Brecon Beacons were cancelled as a result of (i) adverse and (ii) extreme weather conditions in (A) 2017 and (B) 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The authority to cancel or reschedule a recruitment or training event sits at all levels of the Duty Holder Concept. This empowers the Delivery Duty Holder, at the lowest level of the construct, to cancel or reschedule if they are not able to keep risk as low as reasonably practicable. In cases where there is an imperative to run an event, which is unlikely to be the case for recruitment/selection activities, decision making may be escalated to the next levels of the Duty Holder Concept to consider the risk and provide additional senior guidance and/or resources to mitigate any safety shortfalls, or confirm cancellation. The Delivery Duty Holder may not always be the person directly responsible for an event. As a result there is also a Duty of Care process which ensures that those responsible for the running of an event are still empowered with the authority to stop that activity until it is safe to proceed. The information on cancellation of events is not held centrally in the format requested. In line with the Duty Holder Concept, events will be adapted (e.g. location or dates changed to mitigate risks) or cancelled.

Armed Forces: Brecon Beacons

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) heat and (b) cold related injuries were recorded in the Brecon Beacons during (i) training events, (ii) selection events and (iii) exercises in (A) 2017 and (B) 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: From 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 19 UK Service personnel had a recorded cold injury and six UK Service personnel had a recorded heat illness in the Brecon Beacons or at Brecon Medical Centre.From 1 January 2018 to 31 March 2018, 16 UK Service personnel had a recorded cold injury, and fewer than five UK Service personnel had a recorded heat illness in the Brecon Beacons or at Brecon Medical Centre.Information is not held in a format that allows separation between training, selection and exercises. Figures of fewer than five have been suppressed to ensure that individuals cannot be identified

Armed Forces: Deployment

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) Army, (b) RAF and (c) Navy deployments which were extended before the scheduled end of the tour of duty in each year from 2015 to 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: To meet evolving and emergent operational requirements:The Royal Navy has retained a vessel beyond the planned deployment period on five occasions from 2015 to 2018. One deployment was extended in 2015, three were extended in 2016-2017 and one in 2018. We do not comment on submarine operations for security reasons.The Army - approximately 120 personnel were extended in Afghanistan in summer 2018 from four months to eight months to facilitate the Kabul Security Force uplift. The personnel had a two week period of Rest and Recuperation at home within the eight months.In South Sudan, personnel extended for 21 days to ensure a seamless handover of the military run hospital to the Vietnamese in Bentiu.A number of personnel were also retained for up to 19 days beyond their end of tour date in South Sudan due to visa issues for the incoming relief.Royal Air Force - Operational deployments are conducted in a variety of ways by the Royal Air Force and extensions to operational deployments are not recorded.The movement of personnel is tracked on an individual level using the Joint Personnel Administration system. This is limited to departure/arrival dates only which do not indicate if an extension or reduction in deployment duration has occurred. Therefore the data above reflects delays to formed unit's deployment only.

Trident Submarines: Contingency Reserve

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the titles of the budget categories in the £600 million of contingency fund allocated to the Dreadnought programme are for the current financial year.

Stuart Andrew: Her Majesty's Treasury has allowed the Ministry of Defence to access up to £600 million of funds from the £10 billion contingency allocated to the Dreadnought submarine programme in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review. The funds are for capital expenditure in the current financial year.

Water-cooled Reactors: Testing

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Navy nuclear reactor test facility review published in May 2018.

Stuart Andrew: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 October 2018 to Question 177598 to the hon. Member for Leeds North East (Fabian Hamilton).

Saudi Arabia: Military Aid

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential security risk to north Wales of training Saudi pilots at RAF Valley.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the level of risk of UK weapons being used by Saudi Arabia in Yemen in military action deemed illegal under international law.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence: Written Questions

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2018 to Question 180221 on Ministry of Defence: Written Questions, what the time frame is for the completion of that work.

Stuart Andrew: The Ministry of Defence has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

USA: INF Treaty

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when (a) he and (b) his Department received confirmation from the US Government on its decision to withdraw from the INF treaty.

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the decision taken by the US Government to withdraw from the  Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect on world security of the  decision by the US Administration to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in NATO countries on the decision by the US Administration to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Gavin Williamson: We have regular and close dialogue with US and NATO partners at all levels on foreign and security policy questions, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Russia is engaged in a broad modernisation of its nuclear and missile forces and we share US concern at certain new Russian missiles. We believe the Treaty has played a valuable role in supporting Euro-Atlantic security and want to see it continue to stand but that requires all parties to abide by it. While the Treaty remains in force, the Government will continue efforts to bring Russia back into full and verified compliance. We will continue to work closely with US and other Allies on next steps.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of new universal credit claimants have had to wait longer than five weeks for initial payment in each month since January 2018.

Alok Sharma: The proportion of Universal Credit new claimants who waited more than five weeks from their payment due date for their initial Universal Credit payment is in the table below. In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. We have taken steps to improve verification processes. For example, we have listened to feedback and built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify their housing costs, for example through the landlord portal. Payment due dateWaited more than 5 weeks beyond the payment due date for initial* paymentWaited more than 5 weeks beyond the payment due date for payment in fullJan-181%7%Feb-181%6%Mar-182%7%Apr-182%7%May-182%7%Jun-181%5% Notes: These results can change retrospectively as further information is received and is from our internal management data. *Initial % of paid claims that received some payment

Universal Credit: Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her recent appearance on BBC News at 12.53pm on 11 October 2018, what the evidential basis is for her statement that one million disabled people will get significantly more on universal credit.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 16 October 2018



DWP’s internal analysis based on Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) figures, and applied to a fully rolled out position shows that 1 million people will receive an increase of £110 per month from Universal Credit. Our figures reflect that there are disabled claimants on other benefits or currently receiving no benefit, and also that the final Universal Credit rollout date has subsequently changed since the OBR report.

Universal Credit

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2018 to Question 171398 on Universal Credit, whether the data relating to additional costs to local authorities in excess of those already covered by new burdens and universal support funding has been published; and if she will place a copy of the data which her Department holds in Library.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 17 October 2018



This information has been shared publicly and is quoted in the June 2018 NAO report. We issued a single extra payment totalling £4.7m, distributed across 67 Local Authorities to recognise additional costs in the early stages of roll out prior to October 2017, with a median payment of £35,249.

Universal Credit

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the level of funding required to cancel the debts of claimants transferred from legacy benefits to universal credit.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of historical tax credit overpayments to be referred from HMRC to her Department for recovery through universal credit payments.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which Department will be responsible for resolving disputes on the recovery of alleged tax credit overpayments by universal credit.

Alok Sharma: Where a person stops claiming Tax Credits and instead claims Universal Credit, DWP will take responsibility for Tax Credits debt that person has, which HMRC has not been able to recover at the point of transfer. This will enable recovery to continue through Universal Credit. As at the end of September 2018, £571m* of Tax Credits debt has transferred. This will increase as Tax Credits claimants move onto Universal Credit. DWP continues to work with HMRC and HM Treasury to better understand the make-up of the Tax Credits debt to be transferred. DWP’s 2017/18 annual accounts noted that £5.9 billion of tax credit debt will transfer across as part of the Universal Credit migration process. * From DWP internal management information data

Vacancies: West Midlands

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2018 to Question 174137 on Vacancies: West Midlands, what assessment she has made of trends in the number of vacancies on (a) Find a Job and (b) Universal Jobmatch for (i) permanent and (ii) contract positions since 2013.

Alok Sharma: The Vacancy Survey, run by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) is the source used to estimate the number of vacancies available. Further information is available on the ONS website at https://www.ons.gov.uk/. ‘Find a job’ is a live, self-service website which is constantly being used by employers to upload, edit and end job vacancies. As such, this means that numbers can change from minute to minute. As of 25 October 2018 there are over 184,000 vacancies available on this site. Whilst management Information from the ‘Find a job’ website is useful for the Department and used to improve the service and ensure we’re providing the best service to employers and jobseekers, this information is not intended to represent labour market statistics and trends.

Universal Credit

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to lay before Parliament its draft regulations on the managed migration of claimants to universal credit.

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the managed migration of claimants to universal credit will (a) include a roll-out schedule and (b) allow for (i) pauses and (ii) reviews to ensure that the system is ready to manage the projected number of claimants.

Alok Sharma: Managed migration will begin in 2019, with small-scale testing of up to 10,000 claimants to ensure our process works well before the volume of migration increases. We are engaging closely with stakeholders to build safeguards to ensure that all claimants and particularly the most vulnerable are fully supported through the migration process. The draft regulations have been out for consultation with the Social Security Advisory Committee and we are currently considering their advice alongside the contributions we have received from other stakeholders. These regulations will come before Parliament this autumn and they will be accompanied by our response to the Social Security Advisory Committee’s Report. The regulations are essential to ensuring that everyone moving onto Universal Credit, having had no change in their circumstances, receives transitional protection. The regulations also provide additional protection to claimants receiving a Severe Disability Premium, to ensure they are not moved onto Universal Credit ahead of managed migration, and to provide financial protection to those claimants who have already moved over. Additionally, in the legacy system there are £2.4bn of unclaimed benefits not taken up by people who need them, because they do not know about them. These regulations will ensure that 700,000 more people will get paid their full entitlement under Universal Credit.

Universal Credit

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect on vulnerable claimants of moving three million people manually on to universal credit; and if she will make a statement.

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department plans to provide to vulnerable claimants moving to universal credit under managed migration; and what steps she is taking to ensure those claimants do not lose income as a result of that transition.

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on vulnerable claimants of the roll-out of universal credit under (a) current systems and (b) the managed migration process.

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to identify vulnerable claimants on legacy benefits who require additional support for managed migration to universal credit.

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that vulnerable claimants do not lose income when moving to universal credit through managed migration.

Alok Sharma: We intend to build safeguards into the managed migration process to ensure that people will not have a break in their benefit entitlement and will ensure that claimants are supported. Managed migration will begin with a testing period commencing in 2019, in which up to 10,000 claimants will be migrated, ensuring our process are working effectively before we take on larger volumes from 2020 onwards.We have already implemented a number of measures this year to assist claimants during the transition to their first Universal Credit payment, including the removal of waiting days, a Universal Credit Transitional Housing Payment (which provides a two week Housing Benefit run-on), 100% advances and a longer repayment period.The Department is working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the managed migration process works for everyone, especially vulnerable claimants. As part of this, earlier this month we held a large scale stakeholder event, engaging with over 70 organisations, including those representing vulnerable claimant groups, seeking their detailed input on the managed migration process.Over £2.4bn in benefits are currently unclaimed and Universal Credit ensures that vulnerable claimants receive the money they are entitled to. More severely disabled people will receive higher payments under Universal Credit, with around 1 million disabled households gaining on average about £110 more per month.Transitional protection payments proposed in our managed migration regulation will also ensure there are no cash losers at the point of transition. These include protections for claimants receiving a Severe Disability Premium, to ensure they are not moved onto Universal Credit ahead of managed migration, and to provide financial support for those who have already moved over.

Universal Credit

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce payment times for universal credit applicants.

Alok Sharma: We continue to make changes to improve payment timeliness: since February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account; in 2017 we started rolling out a ‘landlord portal’ to social landlords to make it easier and quicker to verify people’s housing costs. We have also listened to feedback and built processes into the system to improve verification for tenants in the private rented sector. All of this makes it easier for claimants to apply for Universal Credit and ensure they receive their entitlement on time and in full.

Universal Credit

Neil Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of automatically moving claimants that would otherwise undergo managed migration to universal credit from 2019.

Alok Sharma: There are a number of issues with attempting to move claimants automatically from legacy benefits onto Universal Credit. Claimant data must be accurate and up-to-date to avoid transferring errors from legacy to Universal Credit. Claimants are not currently getting all the entitlements they are eligible for on legacy benefits, and making a new Universal Credit claim will ensure that the £2.4bn of currently unclaimed benefits will be paid to those who are entitled to them, an average of £285 per month for 700,000 households. Universal Credit also requires some data, which is currently not held under the legacy system. For example, the Tax Credit system does not hold information on capital which is needed for a Universal Credit claim. The best way to ensure that we have the right data to process a claim is by requesting the claimant provide full and updated data.

Universal Credit: South Yorkshire

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many recipients of universal credit in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) Barnsley receive less money under universal credit compared with their previous benefit entitlement.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of recipients of universal credit in (a) South Yorkshire and (b) Barnsley receive less money under universal credit compared with their previous benefit entitlement.

Alok Sharma: Claimants naturally migrating from existing benefits to Universal Credit do so because they have had a significant change in their circumstances that would previously have triggered a new claim to an existing benefit or tax credit. Rather than remain on legacy benefit, the claimant claims Universal Credit and their entitlement is calculated based on their new circumstances. As we only have information in the Universal Credit system on the claimant’s new circumstances, it is not possible to calculate what the claimant’s legacy benefit and tax credit entitlements would have been. Within the managed migration regulations coming before Parliament this autumn, we are introducing transitional protections for those moving to Universal Credit through managed migration, to ensure that no one loses out at the point of transition.

Personal Independence Payment

Dame Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2018 to Question 158169 on personal independence payment, what estimate she has made of the average time taken between a submission for an appeal and the resolution of that case; and if she will make a statement.

Sarah Newton: Statistics on the average length of time for Personal Independence Payment appeals to be cleared are provided in Table T.3 of the quarterly bulletin “Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly – April to June 2018” published by the Ministry of Justice. These can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-and-gender-recognition-certificate-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2018

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much revenue has been raised from the £20 fee on applications to the Child Maintenance Service to date.

Justin Tomlinson: Applications fees data is not explicitly available but forms part of the broader Receipts and Payments Statement information within the published Client Fund Accounts these can be accessed at the following links: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/667954/hc610-client-funds-account-2016-17-2012-cms.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/578769/hc856-client-funds-account-2015-16-2012-cms.pdf Information on fees for 2017/18 financial year will not be available until audit of the 2017/18 Client Funds Account has been completed, anticipated by January 2019.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will automatically include unearned income drawn from HMRC in all child maintenance calculations.

Justin Tomlinson: We are working with HMRC to increase awareness among clients as to what unearned income is and the impact it can have on child maintenance liabilities. We believe that this, along with enhancing case worker training in this area, will help identify and factor unearned income into the calculation at an earlier point in case.

Children: Maintenance

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the results of the reclassification of arrears trial run by the Child Maintenance Group; and what plans she has to change the processes used to collect Child Maintenance arrears as a result of that exercise.

Justin Tomlinson: The Child Maintenance Service has not undertaken any recent trials to reclassify arrears.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will introduce an exemption to permit students from low-income families to travel during a gap year without the family home incurring an under-occupancy penalty.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government has no plans to introduce an exemption from the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy to allow students from low income families to travel during a gap year without the household incurring a reduction in benefit due to under-occupancy.

Department for Work and Pensions: Training

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding her Department has allocated to training staff on universal credit working in (a) her Department's call centres and (b) job centres.

Alok Sharma: For the current financial year the Department has allocated £18m to learning and development for staff working in service centres and jobcentres on Universal Credit.

Social Security Benefits: Mental Health

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has (a) made an assessment and (b) commissioned any reviews of the effect on people's mental health of participation in the social security system.

Sarah Newton: The Department recognises that many of those claiming benefits are particularly vulnerable and we continue to explore ways to improve the customer journey, especially for those with mental health conditions, and have safeguards in place to ensure that people are supported throughout the process.

Universal Credit

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the roll-out of full service universal credit on (a) the number of food parcels distributed by local food banks (b) the number of evictions from private rented accommodation, (c) the number of evictions from local authority rented accommodation and (d) the academic attainment of children eligible for free school meals.

Justin Tomlinson: People use food banks for many reasons, and it would be misleading to link them to any single cause. We are constantly reviewing research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust, to add to our understanding of food bank use. Work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty and Universal Credit gets people into work faster and staying in work longer than the outdated legacy benefits system. UC claimants are 4 percentage points more likely to be in work within 6 months than JSA claimants. Evictions are not a new feature of the rental market. These are matters between tenants and landlords and not directly related to the provision of benefits. This is not something the Department collects data on. As a safeguard for people needing more support, we have a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans. The Autumn Budget 2017, introduced a further package of measures, these include: making advances of up to 100 per cent of the indicative award available and increasing the repayment period to 12 months; removing the 7 day waiting period; providing an additional payment of 2 weeks of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to UC. The government’s new criteria for free school meals eligibility are forecast to increase the number of children eligible for this vital benefit by 2022, compared to the previous benefits system. In addition, our transitional protections will mean that all children currently receiving a free meal will continue to do so. In the government’s response to its consultation on the new free school meals criteria, published in February 2018, we indicated that the impact of the new free school meals threshold and the roll out of Universal Credit, on data, showing the performance of disadvantaged pupils is likely to be relatively minor, in the context of the normal levels of change schools see in their free school meals cohorts year on year.

Sanitary Protection

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps she has taken to end period poverty.

Justin Tomlinson: This Government is taking a range of action to ensure that women and girls are able to access affordable sanitary products.No girl should be held back from reaching her potential because of her gender or background; this is why the current and draft guidance on Relationship and Sex Education issued to schools encourages them to make sensitive arrangements to help girls cope with menstruation. Schools have discretion over how they use their funding and can make sanitary products available, if they identify this as a barrier to attendance. The Department for Education’s published analysis, which reviewed absence statistics, shows no evidence that period poverty has a significant impact on school attendance,Additionally, since 2015, the Government has awarded £15 million a year to women’s charities through the Tampon Tax Fund – equivalent to the amount of VAT raised from the sale of women’s sanitary products. Through the current round of the fund, we will provide over £1.6 million for the ‘Let’s Talk. Period.’ Project, delivered by ‘Brook Young People’ across England. The project will identify vulnerable and disadvantaged young women who struggle to afford products through the organisation’s existing community services and a network of local partners, including schools. It will also develop resources to educate girls about menstruation and hand out pre-paid cards allowing girls and young women in need to access free sanitary products at local distribution points. Work offers people the best opportunity to move out of poverty; across the UK, there are over 3.3m more people in work, around 964,000 fewer workless households, and around 637,000 fewer children living in such households compared with 2010. Also since 2010 there are 1 million fewer people in absolute poverty (before housing costs) compared with 2010.

Universal Credit: Wolverhampton North East

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Wolverhampton North East constituency are in receipt of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit by parliamentary constituency is published and can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Universal Credit: Wolverhampton North East

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Wolverhampton North East constituency have applied for advance payments of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: Applications for a Universal Credit advance payment can be made in person, by telephone or (since July 2018) online. For applications made in person or by telephone, only applications that are successful are recorded. To collect information on unsuccessful applications made in person or by telephone would incur a disproportionate cost. Our latest internal management information data as of July 2018 shows that, nationally, over 60% of new claims currently receive either a ‘New Claim’ or ‘Benefit Transfer’ advance which shows claimants are getting the support they need. Data is not available at constituency level.

Unemployment: Wolverhampton North East

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the reasons why the level of unemployment in Wolverhampton North East constituency is more than twice the national average; and what steps her Department is taking to lower the rate of unemployment in that constituency.

Alok Sharma: The Office for National Statistics estimate between July 2017 to June 2018, with 95% confidence, that the unemployment rate in Wolverhampton North East was between 5.7% and 13.1%, with a central estimate of 9.4%. Employment in the West Midlands is up by 78,000 on the year and 307,000 since 2010, to 2.78 million. This Government’s Industrial Strategy sets out how we will build a Britain fit for the future – and help businesses create better, higher-paying jobs with investment in the skills, industries and infrastructure of the future.

Employment and Support Allowance

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants of employment and support allowance that were underpaid, had their income reduced when they were transferred from incapacity benefit.

Sarah Newton: No-one suffered a cash loss when they were converted from incapacity benefits to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) because, where the amount of ESA they were entitled to was lower than the previous incapacity benefit award, it was ‘topped up’ to match their previous award by a transitional addition. A Written Statement and Frequently Asked Question document was deposited in the House of Commons Library on Wednesday 17th October which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/. Ad hoc statistics can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking.

Employment and Support Allowance

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the repayments to claimants that were underpaid employment and support allowance will include interest.

Sarah Newton: We will be reviewing all those cases potentially affected and paying any arrears of past payments that are due. Our focus is on paying arrears to claimants in line with the primary legislation. A Written Statement and Frequently Asked Question document was deposited in the House of Commons Library on Wednesday 17th October which can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/deposited-papers/. Ad hoc statistics can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esa-underpayments-forecast-numbers-affected-forecast-expenditure-and-progress-on-checking.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Recycling

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department supports local authorities to promote recycling by businesses.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) places a duty on local authorities to collect or arrange for the collection of commercial waste from premises in their area if requested by the occupier and may charge for the services they provide. Local authorities may also promote waste minimisation and recycling within its authority but do not have specific duties to promote business recycling. The Government wants to increase business recycling and will set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy, which will be published shortly, how we will achieve this.

Agriculture: Young People

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage young people into farming.

George Eustice: The government is reforming post-16 technical education to provide clear routes to skilled employment in agriculture and other sectors. A key part of this is the introduction of new T level programmes, which alongside apprenticeships, will sit within 15 routes, including an Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care route. The government also published a Policy Statement in September 2018, alongside its landmark Agriculture Bill. This sets out how we will help facilitate structural change to open up more opportunities for new entrants to farming by delinking Direct Payments from the land during the agricultural transition period. We are also exploring how to help Local Authorities who want to invest in their Council Farms, so that they offer real opportunities for new farmers to start a foundation business and gain the experience they need to progress onto a larger unit.

Horses: Animal Welfare

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will create a new regulator to address (a) horse welfare and (b) deaths of race horses.

David Rutley: The British Horserace Authority (BHA) are responsible for the welfare of racehorses at racetracks. The BHA work in collaboration with the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare to make racetracks as safe as possible. The number of racehorse fatalities at racetracks has been falling steadily since 2012, which is welcome. However, whilst I do not see a need for a new regulator, I consider that improvements can be made to further reduce the number of racehorse fatalities each year. I will explore this issue further when I meet BHA to discuss racehorse safety.

Schools: Nutrition

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the ability of dairy farmers to withstand market fluctuations of not replacing the school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: The future application of the EU School Milk Scheme is under consideration and no decisions have been taken. However, provisions included in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act will support any future decisions. The EU Scheme sits alongside other initiatives such as the much larger national Nursery Milk Scheme for children under the age of five in daycare, Free School Milk for those children entitled to Free School Meals and the requirement for schools to make milk available for children under the School Food Standards. The key aim of these initiatives is to make a contribution towards ensuring that children are healthy and well-nourished. In addition, supporting dairy consumption from a young age also makes a useful contribution towards the success of our dairy sector.

Fisheries

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions the Marine Management Organisation has had with Wildlife Trusts on the use of pingers on vessels in inshore fisheries.

George Eustice: The Marine Management Organisation recently held very constructive discussions with Cornwall Wildlife Trust on the use of pingers in the South West of England and the requirements of wildlife licences for activities that may harm marine species protected under EU and UK legislation.

Immigration: Departmental Coordination

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the development of the UK’s immigration policy after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: It is a key priority of this Government to enable an innovative, productive and competitive food supply chain, which invests in its people and skills. To help achieve this, we will ensure that there is access to enough appropriately skilled labour to drive continued industry growth and productivity. Whilst the UK prepares to leave the EU, Defra is working closely with the Home Office to ensure that the food and farming sector has access to the workforce it needs as part of the future immigration policy. The Home Office and Defra recently jointly announced a pilot scheme to bring seasonal migrant workers to UK farms.

Rivers: Sewage

Meg Hillier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many litres of sewage is discharged into rivers in (a) London and (b) the rest of the South-East because of misconnected pipes; and what steps he is taking to bring the matter to the attention of the public.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: It is difficult to quantify how much sewage is discharged in London and the South East through misconnections, due to the complex nature of urban drainage and the masking provided by other polluting sources. The Environment Agency (EA) collects data on reported incidents of polluted surface water outfalls, including those attributed to misconnections. However this data cannot be considered comprehensive due to difficulties in identifying and recording incident sources and might exclude a significant number of incidents reported direct to water companies. In 2013 a UK Water Industry Research project estimated the potential number of misconnections in each of the water company catchments and included the following estimates for water companies in London and the South East. It provides an estimate of the potential overall scale of the problem for water companies although the figures might be regarded as a conservative estimate: Anglian Water circa 24,000 misconnections, Southern Water circa 16,000 misconnections and Thames Water circa 48,000 misconnections. The water companies, EA and local authorities are working to address misconnections and raise awareness with householders, the building trade and other professionals. This is being targeted by the ConnectRight campaign and the trade accreditation scheme, WaterSafe. This work is being co-ordinated by the National Misconnections Strategy Group which in addition to the organisations named above includes Defra and the Consumer Council for Water. The group has also developed good practice for the industry, as well as looking at measures to limit misconnections being made in the first place. Further work to limit and reduce misconnections is also being planned as part of the planning for the next water company investment round in the period 2020 to 2025 to maintain a resilient wastewater and drainage system.

Air Pollution

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many monitoring stations monitor fine particulate matter PM2.5.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The national air quality monitoring network, run by the Environment Agency, includes 78 PM2.5 monitors.

Air Pollution

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has allocated to (a) school behaviour change programmes and (b) other projects designed to protect children's health from air pollution in each of the last three years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Air quality is a devolved matter. Local authorities can bid for additional government funding via the air quality grant fund for projects in local communities to tackle air pollution and reduce emissions affecting schools, businesses and residents. In 2016/17, the London Borough of Islington was awarded £50,000 to run a local school-focused awareness and engagement campaign through the air quality grant. Local authorities have a duty to monitor and assess air quality and to take action to reduce pollution where these breach statutory limits, and are best placed to determine local priorities. Their local knowledge and interaction with the communities that they serve means that they know the issues on the ground in detail and the solutions that are best suited to local circumstances. The government awarded a total of £2.4 million to local authorities from the 2017/18 air quality grant fund; £3.7 million was awarded to local authorities in 2016/17 and £0.5 million in 2015/16. £3 million has been allocated for 2018/19. The government has also put in place a £3.5 billion plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions, which includes £475 million for councils to improve air quality. We have consulted on our Clean Air Strategy, which includes ambitious goals, legislation, investment and policies which will help us to clean up our air faster and more effectively.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to measure Bovine TB outbreaks by prevalence as well as incidence; and if he will release all the statistical evidence from the recent Gloucestershire and Somerset badger cull pilots.

George Eustice: In September the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) published data on cattle TB incidence and prevalence in the first ten cull areas and in the 2km buffer area around cull areas. As well as the headline incidence rate and prevalence, the raw data that underpins these calculations was also published; namely the number of total new TB incidents, the number of new incidents where Officially TB-Free (OTF) status was withdrawn, the number of herds under restriction, the number of herds in existence and the “Time at Risk” which takes into account the fact that a herd that is under TB restrictions cannot have a new TB incident. The data was broken down for each of the three years before culling began and for each year since culling started, and for each of the ten cull areas and their 2km buffer area.

Home Office

Fire and Rescue Services and Police: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department made of the use of drones by the Police and Fire Services of the effectiveness of those services in relation to (a) difficult to reach areas, (b) incidents involving a danger to life and limb and (c) public disorder events.

Mr Nick Hurd: Decisions to use drones and in which circumstances are operational matters for the Police and Fire and Rescue services.The National Police Chief’s Council is undertaking a review of Police Air Support which is considering how drones should be used alongside manned aircraft.

National Police Air Service

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations he has received from the National Police Air Service on force contributions to that Service.

Mr Nick Hurd: The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a collaboration of police forces. The level of financial contribution made by individual forces to the service is a matter for Police and Crime Commissioners and the NPAS Strategic Board.

Hate Crime: Internet

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the online platforms that hate crime offences have been perpetrated on.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office does not collect this information centrally. However, the most recent assessment of the evidence is available on GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/748140/hate-crime-a-thematic-review-of-the-current-evidence-oct2018-horr102.pdf.A joint Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Home Office White Paper will be published this winter, which will set out a range of legislative and non-legislative measures detailing how we will tackle online harms. Potential areas where we will consider legislating include transparency report-ing to outline the response and prevalence of harms, including hate crime, on online platforms.

UK Border Force: Staff

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent reductions in the number of staff in Border Force on its ability to carry out operations to tackle illegal workers and people trafficking in the UK.

Caroline Nokes: We have always been clear that Border Force has the resources it needs to secure the border.Border Force staffing figures are published in the Home Office Annual Report. This information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-office-annual-report-and-accounts-2017-to-2018Border Force also recently launched a nationwide recruitment campaign for officers across many of its ports and airport locations campaign to develop a recruitment pipeline of up to 1,000 officers, which will support Border Force to respond flexibly to any emerging requirements including backfilling promptly against BAU attrition.This is in addition to the recruitment of a further 300 frontline officers to allow existing staff to be trained in new requirements ahead of EU ExitThis campaign will develop a pipeline for ongoing recruitment across various port locations as part of Border Force’s multi-year workforce plan.All frontline officers undertake training in keeping children safe, Section 55 safeguarding responsibilities, trafficking indicators, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), FGM and Modern Slavery.  Border Force also has a network of specially trained Safeguarding and Modern Slavery officers who receive a minimum of 3 days specialist training. BF internal performance data shows a consistent increase in identification of potential victims of Modern Slavery year on year. This is attributable to a mixture of training and raised awareness levels due to periods of intensification with other law enforcement partners to target exploitation.

Human Trafficking: Undocumented Workers

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the ability of UK Border Force to identify and punish people who regularly exploit and traffick illegal workers into the UK.

Caroline Nokes: The Government is committed to protecting the vulnerable. At the primary checkpoint, Border Force Officers have the unique advantage of being the first point of contact with UK authorities for many vulnerable children and adults as well as the criminals who traffic them.All Border Force staff receive training in how to spot indicators of modern slavery for both victims and traffickers. In addition to this specialist safeguarding teams with enhanced skills provide advice to colleagues on this area of work.Intelligence-led operations to disrupt traffickers and protect victims is the key to Border Force’s response to the threat of Modern Slavery. Through the Modern Slavery Threat Group, Border Force work alongside UKVI, IE and other law enforcement agencies to identify and disrupt modern slavery offenders.”If a suspected trafficker is encountered by Border Force staff this is referred to colleagues in Immigration Enforcement, NCA or the police for further investigation and prosecution.The responsibility for investigation and prosecution does not sit with Border Force.

Asylum: Housing

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to (a) ensure that the new asylum seeker accommodation contracts will deliver accommodation of a good standard and (b) support people to make a successful transition from asylum-seeking to refugee status.

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provisions will be in the new asylum accommodation contracts to ensure that successful asylum applicants do not become destitute when they leave dispersal accommodation.

Caroline Nokes: The new arrangements for asylum accommodation and support contracts have been designed to improve the overall service by providing a more accessible and easy to navigate system which ensures the safety, security and welfare of service users and their host communities.Accommodation Providers will continue to be required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation that complies with the Decent Homes Standard in addition to standards outlined in relevant national or lo-cal housing legislation.Providers will also have a contractual duty to notify the local authority of the potential need to provide housing where a person in that accommodation is granted refugee status, including any other information about the refugee’s needs that the Local Authority will need to help them provide accommodation before their support ceases.These services will be delivered alongside other existing cross government initiatives to improve the transfer of information with Local Authorities including the Post Grant Appointments Service and the Local Authority Asylum Support Liaison Offices (LAASLO) pilot that aim to secure better outcomes for refugees within their move on period.

Asylum

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities are empowered and funded to support asylum seekers and newly recognised refugees.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office provides asylum seekers and their dependants who would otherwise be destitute with free furnished accommodation (rent and utility free) and a weekly cash allowance to cover their other essential living needs. They also have access to free NHS healthcare and education for their dependent children.Newly recognised refugees are able to apply for mainstream benefits and assistance from their local authority to find housing, and they also have full and unrestricted access to the labour market.We are working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that newly recognised refugees are provided with assistance to apply for any benefit to which they are entitled before their Home Office support comes to an end.

Asylum: Housing

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to support local authorities during the transition to new asylum accommodation contracts.

Caroline Nokes: As activity to tender and procure the new asylum accommodation and support contracts comes to a conclusion, there will be a significant increase in our engagement with partners and stakeholders to plan and execute the transition to the services.Work to plan for the mobilisation and transition has been underway for some time and is supported by dedicated central and regional teams who will engage on a local basis with all strategic stakeholders including Local Authorities, these plans will include the establishment of regional working groups and formal joint engagement boards to ensure all parties are involved and able to understand and support the appointed providers’ solution.The new asylum accommodation and support contracts will also be underpinned by collaborative principles that require Providers to develop close working relationships with stakeholders to support the effective coordination of local services delivery and help secure the safety and welfare of service users.

Refugees: Greater London

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding his Department has provided to support newly-recognised refugees in London when they have moved out of asylum dispersal accommodation in each of the last three years.

Caroline Nokes: Newly recognised refugees have immediate access to the labour market and can access a range of mainstream services, including social welfare benefits, healthcare, and English language tuition.Funding for these services is provided by the relevant Departments.

Asylum: Greater London

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers are living in London as at October 2018.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office publishes quarterly figures on the number of asylum seekers housed in dispersed accommodation, including under Section 95, by local authority in the Immigration Statistics release, in table as_16q and 17q in volume 4 of the Asylum data tables. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2017/list-of-tables#asylumThis does not include those asylum seekers who are accommodated with friends and family, and who are not in receipt of support.

Asylum: Greater London

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of asylum seekers registered to attend English for Speakers of Other Languages classes in London (a) six months and (b) 12 months after arriving in the UK in each of the last three years.

Caroline Nokes: The Department of Education funds English language provision through the Adult Education Budget. This is allocated to local providers to use in line with local needs.Government does not centrally hold data on the number of asylum seekers accessing English language provision in different regions by date of arrival.

Psychoactive Substances Act 2016

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to review the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office will publish a review of the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 in November 2018, 30 months after the introduction of the Act.

Human Trafficking: Victims

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the nationalities were of victims in receipt of positive conclusive grounds decisions made through the National Referral Mechanism; and what the nationalities were of those people who were under the age of 18 in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the nationalities were of victims in receipt of negative conclusive grounds decisions made through the National Referral Mechanism; and what the nationalities were of those people who were under the age of 18 in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

Victoria Atkins: The National Crime Agency (NCA) is responsible for publishing National Referral Mechanism (NRM) data and does so on a quarterly basis.Published data on the referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is available via the following link:http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics. The 2017 Annual Report of NRM statistics includes data on the outcomes of NRM decisions by nationality for referrals made in 2017, at Annex G.Further information is also available in the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/749346/2018_UK_Annual_Report_on_Modern_Slavery.pdf which was published on 18 October 2018.

Human Trafficking: Standards

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism received a reasonable grounds decision within five working days, and what the timeframe was for the remainder of the referrals in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism received a conclusive grounds decision during the 45-day recovery and reflection period; and what the timeframe was for decisions to be made on the remainder of referrals in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

Victoria Atkins: The National Crime Agency (NCA) is responsible for publishing National Referral Mechanism (NRM) data and does so on a quarterly basis.The NCA does not publish data about the timescales for reaching reasonable grounds or conclusive grounds decisions. No NRM decisions are made during a potential victim’s 45 day reflection and recovery period.Published data on the referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is available via the following link:http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.Further information is also available in the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/749346/2018_UK_Annual_Report_on_Modern_Slavery.pdf which was published on 18 October 2018.

UK Visas and Immigration

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2018 to Question 180674 on Home Office: staff, how many units within UK Visas and Immigration process post-decision casework; and what category of application each unit processes.

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2018 to Question 180674 on Home Office: staff, where each unit that processes post-decision casework in UK Visas and Immigration is located.

Caroline Nokes: There are 6 units (this is based on a unit as a whole not individual teams) within UK Visa and Immigration that complete post decision casework. List below –• Asylum• Administrative Review• Refused Case Management• Family Human Rights Unit• European & Settlement Casework• InternationalEach unit is responsible for processing all categories of post decision casework relevant to their business areas, these include the following –• Administrative reviews• Appeals implementation• Appeals review• Varying conditions of leave• Further submissions• Reconsideration of decisions• Supplementary decisions• Curtailment• Family reunion• Further representationsThese units are located in the following locations –• Liverpool• Newcastle• Manchester• Sheffield• Croydon• Beijing• Bogota• Manila• Riyadh• Warsaw• Istanbul• Pretoria• Chennai• Abu Dhabi• Amman• New Delhi

Borders: France

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 9 October 2018 to Question 173617 on Asylum: Dunkirk, what programmes the Government is funding to improve security at the shared border in northern France.

Caroline Nokes: Working closely with French partners over the last 4 years, the UK has in-vested almost €150M to enhance border security in Northern France. This work has included physical security measures at all three Juxtaposed ports of Calais, Dunkirk and Coquelles (Eurotunnel), consisting of a com-bination of high security fencing, lighting, CCTV and perimeter detection technologies. Alongside this there has been the installation of secure parking areas for HGV’s and coaches to protect them and to ensure the fluidity of the approach roads.The Sandhurst Treaty, signed by the Prime Minister in January 2018, demonstrates the ongoing enhanced joint action by the UK and France to manage our shared border and tackle organised immigration crime. This includes a commitment from the UK to invest an additional £44.5m to pro-tect the shared border. Part of this is being spent to reinforce the security measures in and around smaller ports in northern France, including Dunkirk and Ouistreham near Caen. The Sandhurst Treaty funding has also been used to establish the Joint Information and Coordination Cen-tre (‘CCIC’), which will facilitate cooperation between law enforcement bodies on combatting illegal migration.The UK has established the Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce which brings together officers from Border Force, the National Crime Agency, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service. The Taskforce seeks to use every opportunity, whether that be in source countries, countries migrants travel through or in Europe to identify and tackle organised crime groups involved in organised immigration crime.

Police: Misconduct

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many gross misconduct charges have been brought against police officers in relation to a death (a) during and (b) after police contact since financial year 2009-10.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many gross misconduct charges have been upheld against police officers in relation to a death (a) during and (b) after police contact since financial year 2009-10.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many gross misconduct charges have resulted in the dismissal of police officers in relation to a death (a) during and be (b) police contact since the financial year 2009-10.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Independent Office for Police Conduct investigations in relation to a death (a) during and (b) after police contact have led to a referral to the Crown Prosecution Service since financial year 2009-10.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Independent Office for Police Conduct investigations in relation to a death during or following police contact have led to charges being brought by the CPS since the financial year 2009-10.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of charges brought by the CPS in relation to a death during or following police contact how many have led to a conviction since the financial year 2009-10.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold this data. It collects and publishes infor-mation on the number of cases and outcomes of police misconduct and crim-inal investigations in England and Wales. This information was first collected for the 2015/16 financial period. The latest data for 2015/16 and 2016/17 can be found in the misconduct section of the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales.The IOPC publishes its own official national statistics on deaths during or fol-lowing police contact annually. It also holds some data on investigation out-comes. I have asked the Director General of the IOPC to write to the Hon. Member in response to these questions. I shall arrange for a copy of the letter to be placed in the House of Commons library.

Fraud: Internet

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of intelligence sharing online fraud between the Police and companies that host shared online markets of metadata.

Mr Ben Wallace: The assessment of the adequacy of intelligence is an operational matter for the police. Businesses and individuals are able to report information and intelligence about frauds and cyber crimes to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime.

Fraud

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of reporting levels for (a) financial and (b) consumer fraud.

Mr Ben Wallace: Police recorded crime and Crime Survey for England and Wales estimates are not broken down by (a) financial and (b) consumer fraud. There is a gap between the levels of police recorded fraud and the estimated number of frauds in the Crime Survey.The City of London Police, the national lead force for fraud, are working with businesses to increase the level of reporting to Action Fraud and the new IT system for Action Fraud, which went live earlier this month, will make it easier for businesses and individuals to report incidents of fraud.

Police Service of Northern Ireland: Staff

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has received representations from the Police Service of Northern Ireland on the number of additional police officers that Service will require when the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Nick Hurd: It is entirely responsible and appropriate that we prepare for every eventuality and my officials in the Home Office are working closely with policing colleagues, including with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, to determine the impact of EU Exit on policing and plan accordingly.

Visas: Overseas Students

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many student study visas were refused in each of the last five years.

Caroline Nokes: Information on the number of study entry clearance visas granted, and refused, is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics, Visas volume 1 table vi_01_q, latest edition at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2018/list-of-tables#visas

Knives: Crime

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the causes of the increase in the level of knife crime.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is very concerned about the increase in knife crime and the devastating impact it has on victims, their families and communities. That is why we published the Serious Violence Strategy in April setting out action to tackle knife crime including new legislation in the Offensive Weapons Bill, the launch of the anti-knife crime Community Fund to provide grants to local initiatives, the #knifefree media campaign, and continuing police action under Operation Sceptre. The strategy outlines an ambitious programme and is based on evidence about the trends and drivers of serious violence and analysis of what works in terms of interventions.Our analysis clearly points to a range of factors driving increases in serious violence including improvements in police recording, but changes in the drugs market is a key driver of recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. Our multi agency approach means that the strategy is not solely focused on law enforcement, but depends also on partnerships across a number of sectors such as education, health, social services, housing, youth services, victim services and others. In particular, the strategy stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and provide young people with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence, supported by the new £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund and the recently announced £200 million Youth Endowment Fund.

Migrant Workers

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a net reduction in low-skilled immigration on the viability of industries reliant on low-skilled labour.

Caroline Nokes: We commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to make an economic assessment of the UK’s future immigration needs. We have always been clear that the future immigration system will be based on evidence and we will publish a White Paper setting out plans for the future immigration system later this year.

UK Visas and Immigration: Stoke on Trent

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish a list of properties in Stoke-on-Trent that were considered as alternative locations for the Stoke-on-Trent Reporting Centre.

Caroline Nokes: Our estates partners were commissioned to identify an alternative site for reporting functions in Stoke that provided adequate access to the public, security and accommodation that would enable us to provide a good level of service to the reporting population. Our partners were unable to locate any such suitable premises in the local area.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Health Services: Social Services

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many officials in his Department are working on health and social care policy.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department continues to recruit talent from across the civil service, the wider public sector and the private sector. The Department for Exiting the European Union has over 650 staff working with other government departments on all aspects of EU Exit policy, including with DHSC.

Conditions of Employment

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many officials in his Department are working on matters relating to employment rights.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department continues to recruit talent from across the civil service, the wider public sector and the private sector. The Department for Exiting the European Union has over 650 staff working with other government departments on all aspects of EU Exit policy, including with the DWP.

UK Trade with EU

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the ability of the EU to reach a legally-binding agreement with the UK on a future trading relationship in advance of the UK leaving the EU.

Chris Heaton-Harris: As the Prime Minister made clear in her Statement to the House on Monday (22-10-2018), the Future Framework agreement will take the form of a political declaration that will accompany and be referred to in the Withdrawal Agreement. Although the EU is only able legally to conclude the final agreements on the future relationship once the UK has left the EU in March 2019, this political declaration will nevertheless carry significant force.

Brexit

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what estimate he has made amount of money the UK will pay to the EU during the transition period between the UK leaving the EU at the agreement of a trading relationship between the UK and EU.

Suella Braverman: We have agreed a fair financial settlement with the EU as part of the draft Withdrawal Agreement. It reflects the UK paying its share of the outstanding EU commitments made during the period of our membership. Our estimate, based on reasonable assumptions and publicly available data, is that it will fall within the range of £35-39bn and the National Audit Office confirmed in April 2018 that these assumptions were reasonable.

Brexit

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October to Question 175802 on Brexit, whether the Government has held any discussions with EU member states on the potential extension of Article 50.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government’s policy remains that Article 50 will not be extended. We will be leaving the EU on 29 March 2019 and are negotiating to that timeline. We are confident of reaching a deal which is in the best interests of both the UK and the EU.

Treasury

Government Controlled Companies

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department (a) holds a list of Government controlled companies which only produce financial reports as small companies and (b) monitors the risk to the taxpayer of undisclosed contingent liabilities in Government controlled companies.

Elizabeth Truss: Government controlled companies, including small companies, must comply with the applicable requirements in the Companies Act 2006 and follow the financial reporting principles of the HM Treasury Financial Reporting Manual (except for public corporations that are not trading funds). This includes the provision of the additional disclosures required by the Manual where these go beyond the Companies Act. The Manual applies EU adopted international financial reporting standards (IFRS) as adapted or interpreted for the public sector. Sections within the Companies Act 2006 define the qualifying criteria for small companies’ regime. The disclosure exemptions permitted under the small companies’ regime do not generally apply to government owned companies unless specific approval has been sought by the Relevant Authority. All entities that follow the Manual, must follow its guidance on the disclosure of contingent liabilities.

Electronic Cigarettes: VAT

Bob Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether e-cigarettes which gain authorisation as licensed medicines from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will be taxed at the reduced rate of VAT when sold over the counter.

Mel Stride: Where the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has approved medicinal E-cigarettes as pharmaceutical smoking cessation products, they could be subject to the 5% VAT if sold over the counter or zero-rated when dispensed on prescription.

Carers: Welfare Tax Credits

Karin Smyth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Government plans to lay legislative proposals before the House to change the tax credit sequencing rules applied to non-parental carers.

Elizabeth Truss: HM Treasury continues to work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to bring these regulations into force as soon as possible. On 25 July, HMRC and DWP consulted with the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) on draft regulations to bring this change into force. The minutes of that meeting have been published online and can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/735203/ssac-minutes-july-2018.pdf. The government intends to lay these regulations before parliament as soon as possible.

Revenue and Customs: East Kilbride

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 7 March 2018, Official Report, column 428 how many and what proportion of HMRC staff based in Plaza Tower, East Kilbride will (a) transfer to an HMRC Regional Centre and (b) complete their career in that location.

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 7 March 2018, Official Report, column 428 how many and what proportion of HMRC staff in Queensway House, East Kilbride will (a) transfer to an HMRC Regional Centre and (b) complete their career in that location.

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 7 March 2018, Official Report, column 428, what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse up to 2025 as a result of the HMRC Building our Future programme.

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 7 March 2018, Official Report, column 428 what estimate he has made of the savings to the public purse as a result of the end of the Mapeley contract.

Mel Stride: HMRC wants to keep as many employees as possible as it moves to its regional centres. It has been clear that if someone can move to a regional centre and has the skills it needs or is able to develop them, there will be a role for them. In 2015, planning indicated that up to 90% of its workforce across the UK at that time would either work in a regional centre or see out their career in an HMRC office. In East Kilbride, updated planning data shows that around 75% of staff in Plaza Tower and 80% in Queensway House, East Kilbride, will move to the Glasgow Regional Centre or see out their career in an HMRC office. In East Kilbride data indicates that 33% of staff in Plaza Tower and 43% in Queensway House are over 50 years of age. By the time all its regional centres have opened, HMRC still expects the figures to be near its original forecast. HMRC will not know the actual position until one-to-one discussions have taken place with staff which will establish whether an individual can or cannot move.  Moving to regional centres will save around £300 million by 2025. It also avoids potential additional costs of £75 million per annum from 2021, when the current contract with Mapeley come to an end.

Revenue and Customs: Staff

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 18 September 2018 to Question 172633 on Revenue and Customs staffing, what assessment has been made by HMRC on its capacity to ensure that all new recruits will be fully trained by the time that the UK leaves the EU.

Mel Stride: As a large department, we are using a number of levers to resource EU Exit roles including deployment of current staff and recruitment of new staff. HMRC is well practised at running large recruitment campaigns for operational delivery staff, and capacity to train new recruits is routinely built in to resourcing plans. This includes the number of staff requiring training, the availability of trainers, resources and infrastructure, and the design of training materials.

Revenue and Customs: Holiday Leave

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has plans to impose limits on staff annual leave during March and April 2019 as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

Mel Stride: HMRC have no plans to limit staff annual leave during March and April 2019 as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

Customs: Warehouses

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the frequently of inspections of Customs Warehouses is by HMRC.

Mel Stride: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for authorising and monitoring Customs Warehouses. Compliance checks of Customs Warehouses are conducted as part of a flexible, risk-based programme of compliance interventions across the whole tax and customs system. The frequency of these interventions depends on a number of factors including the level and nature of the risks identified.

Customs: Warehouses

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has plans to establish further Inland pre-clearance sites in addition to the sites being established in Hayes, Middlesex and Milton Keynes.

Mel Stride: As part of the UK’s wider approach to tackling customs fraud HMRC and Border Force perform inland pre-clearance checks targeted at high risk traders. HMRC is moving its inland pre-clearance operations to new purpose-equipped sites at Hayes and Milton Keynes as the contracts on current sites come to an end. The Government will consider the need for further sites as it evolves its approach.

Financial Services: Regulation

Sir Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many personnel from each financial sector regulator for which he is responsible have been seconded and for what purpose to a financial regulator elsewhere in the EU.

John Glen: The UK’s financial services regulators operate secondment programmes to financial services firms, regulatory bodies and institutions – including those in the EU and rest of the world - and do so for various reasons. The number of personnel seconded and the purpose for doing so is a matter for the independent regulators.

Multinational Companies: Taxation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue was lost to the public purse as a result of the exemption for regulatory capital in section 259N(3)(b) Chapter 8 Part 6A Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010 in each year since the introduction of that exemption.

Mel Stride: As a matter of corporation tax policy, with the aim of improving financial stability, the UK allows certain deductions for the costs of regulatory capital. The exemption referred to helps to ensure that the Hybrid and Other Mismatch Rules act in a way consistent with this policy. As such, there is no question of any tax revenue being “lost” as a result of the exemption.It is not possible to provide details of the tax effect arising from the exemption for regulatory capital in section 259N(3)(b), Chapter 8, Part 6A of the Taxation (International and other Provisions) Act 2010.The Hybrid and other mismatches regime came into force on 1 January 2017. The majority of corporation tax returns which will reflect the impact of these rules have not yet been received.

Corporation Tax

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the money to be accrued to the public purse as a result of the single payment method outlined in the proposed amendments to Schedule 3ZB to the Tax Management Act 1970 contained in Clause 37 of the draft Finance Bill.

Mel Stride: The level of revenue accrued to the public purse as a result of the single payment method outlined in the proposed amendments to Schedule 3ZB to the Tax Management Act 1970 is expected to be negligible. The UK already has comprehensive exit taxation rules, and the change is relatively minor and primarily of an administrative nature. More information can be found in the Tax Information and Impact Note published on 6 July 2018: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-the-corporation-tax-exit-charges

Social Enterprises: Tax Allowances

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what time targets have been set for HMRC for advance approval of Social Investment Tax Relief.

Mel Stride: Advance assurance applications for investments under the Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) scheme are dealt with alongside advance assurance applications for investments under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), the Seed EIS (SEIS) and by Venture Capital Trusts, as well as statutory compliance statements under the SITR scheme, the EIS and SEIS.There are no separate targets for responding to applications under the different schemes. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) aims to respond to over 80% of applications within 15 working days and 95% of applications within 40 working days. HMRC is currently responding to 88% of applications within 15 working days and 97% of applications within 40 working days.

Social Enterprises: Tax Allowances

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse has been of Social Investment Tax Relief in each year since 2013.

Mel Stride: HMRC publishes annual statistics on funds raised through the Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) scheme. The latest release is on GOV.UK athttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/enterprise-investment-scheme-seed-enterprise-investment-scheme-and-social-investment-tax-relief-statistics-may-2018 From the introduction of SITR in 2014-15, up to 2016-17, the annual costs of the relief are estimated to have been less than £5 million per year. Data for 2017-18 onwards are not yet available.

Public Sector: Pay

Peter Dowd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what modelling the Treasury has undertaken of the potential economic effect (a) regionally and (b) nationally of regional pay for public sector workers.

Elizabeth Truss: HMT has not undertaken modelling to assess the economic effect of regional pay for public sector workers.

Unemployment

Emma Reynolds: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to reduce unemployment in constituencies with high levels of unemployment.

Elizabeth Truss: Our economic plan, reducing the deficit whilst investing in infrastructure and supporting businesses to grow, has delivered growth in the economy, growth in employment and growth in wages. The unemployment rate currently stands at 4.0%, down from 8% in 2010 and the lowest rate since the 1970s. The jobs recovery has benefitted the whole of the UK, and more than 70% of the increase to employment since 2010 has been outside of London.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made for the number of children with disabilities that are in receipt of tax-free childcare.

Elizabeth Truss: There are currently 2,290 live Tax-Free Childcare accounts for disabled children.

Revenue and Customs: Blockchain

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of the use of Blockchain by HMRC after the UK leaves the EU.

Mel Stride: HMRC has run a successful proof of concept that has demonstrated the potential benefits to the department of using Blockchain technology. HMRC continues to work internally and with other government departments to research whether and how those benefits might be realised.